Diet-induced obesity alters bone remodeling leading to decreased femoral trabecular bone mass in mice

Obesity-derived body mass may be detrimental to bone health through not well-defined mechanisms. In this study we determined changes in bone structure and serum cytokines related to bone metabolism in diet-induced obese mice. Mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) had higher serum tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and leptin but lower osteocalcin concentrations than those fed the normal-fat diet. The HFD increased multinucleated TRAP-positive osteoclasts in bone marrow compared to the control diet. Despite being much heavier, mice fed the HFD had lower femoral bone volume, trabecular number, and connectivity density and higher trabecular separation than mice on the control diet. These findings suggest that obesity induced by a HFD increases bone resorption that may blunt any positive effects of increased body weight on bone.