Endocrinology Department, C.H.U. Purpan, Toulouse, France.
There are many data indicating that osteoporotic fractures, and particularly hip fractures, are less frequent in obese subjects. Overweight and obese women have a higher bone mass after menopause than women of the same age who are not overweight, and thus in all probability have a slower bone loss. This protective effect appears to be related both to mechanical factors and to estrogen synthesis in adipose tissue.