Did a New Year’s resolution lead you embark on a low calorie diet for weight loss and improved health? For the sake of your bones, you may need to reconsider your strategy.

A study conducted by Dr. Dennis Villareal and colleagues in the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Sciences at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis followed 38 men and women with an average age of 57 years while they lost weight over the period of one year by dieting or exercising. They reported that 19 men and women who lost an average of 8.2 kilograms (18 pounds) by restricting calorie intake also lost over two percent of their bone mineral density at the hip and spine.

A similar group of men and women who lost an average of 6.7 kilograms (15 pounds) by exercising regularly for the year had no significant changes in bone mineral density. A third group of 10 people who followed a healthy lifestyle and lost no weight over the year also had no measurable bone loss.

For the sake of your bones, if you need to lose weight, do it with exercise rather than by restricting calorie intake.

Read more on weight loss and bones.

Source
Villareal, Dennis et al. “Bone mineral density response to caloric restriction-induced weight loss or exercise-induced weight loss: A randomized controlled trial.” Archives of Internal Medicine 166 (2006): 2502-10. (See article abstract)