Bones not at fault for your weight

MANY large people use the excuse that they are not overweight, they just have heavy bones to explain away their weight.

Juergen Ordemann, director of the Centre for Obesity and Metabolic Surgery at Berlin’s Charite Hospital, is dismissive.

“Bones cannot be responsible for being overweight,” the professor says. With women, bones make up around 10% of body weight, and with men around 15%.

“Bone mass can vary by around 10%, depending on lifestyle and nutrition, but this is insignificant in relation to obesity,” Ordemann says.

Bone density could only affect overall weight by 1% to 1.5%. Bone density rises as a result of healthy nutrition rich in calcium and taking exercise.

“That too is evidence that being overweight cannot be a result of heavy bones,” the professor says.