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Abstract
The latest here:
Bone loss linked to brain issues in new study
Key Takeaways
- In a new study, people with low bone density were more likely to show a faster drop in cognitive skills with aging and more rapid brain deterioration.
- Results were most striking in people with type 2 diabetes.
- People with low bone density, especially those who also have diabetes, should talk to their doctor about steps they can take to protect both bone health and brain health.
The health of your bones may be connected to the health of your brain.
New research based on more than 700 older adults suggests that those with lower bone density were more likely to experience faster deterioration of cognitive function as they aged as well as accelerated age-related injury to brain tissue.
Scientists found that a bone density measurement taken from a common chestcomputerized tomography (CT) scan carried information about how a patients brain would change over the next several years.
A scan you already had may be telling you more than it was ordered to, says lead study authorSara Momtazmanesh, MD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of radiology and radiological sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Bone density from a routine chest CT tracked with how peoples brains changed over the following years, suggesting bone and brain age together rather than separately, she adds.
Related video: Study identifies protein that could help protect memory as we age (WKYC-TV Cleveland)
Earlier research has already identified a link between bone density and brain health, suggesting that people with lower bone density also tend to have more damage to their brains white matter or a higher risk of dementia.
What was missing was whether bone density measured today tells you anything about what happens next, says Dr. Momtazmanesh. To our knowledge, this is the first study to follow people over time and link a baseline bone measurement to the actual rate of change in white matter structure and in cognition.
The research team also looked at the microscopic organization of the brains white matter, which can reveal damage earlier compared with visible lesions.
For the study, published this week in Radiology (the journal of the Radiological Society of North America), the authors analyzed bone density data derived from the noncontrast chest CT scans of 715 adults, ranging in age from 65 to 75 (397 men and 318 women).
Participants underwent cognitive testing at the time of the CT scan and again about five to six years later. They also had repeated brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams, which can detect microstructural brain changes that are associated with cognitive decline and increased dementia risk.
The MRIs revealed associations of low bone density with microstructural changes in areas of the brain known to be vulnerable to vascular and metabolic injury. These tiny changes appeared without a change in total lesion volume (visible abnormal tissue in the brain) indicating that subtle tissue disruption existed even before visible damage.
Momtazmanesh highlights that participants in the lowest quarter of bone density accumulated white matter lesions in the corpus callosum (a thick band of nerve fibers in the center of the brain) about 15 percent faster per year than those in the highest quarter.
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Less Bone Density Associated With Lower Cognitive Performance
The cognitive testing for the study assessed overall thinking ability, covering factors such as memory, language, attention, and the speed at which someone can process information under time pressure.
Those in the lowest quarter of bone density were linked to a 0.3 percent faster decline in their global cognitive score compared with those in the highest quarter bone density group, according to Momtazmanesh.
Diabetes Appears to Especially Heighten Risk
The connection was strongest for people withdiabetes, according toDeborah Kado, MD, professor of medicine specializing in geriatrics at Stanford University and co-director of the Stanford Longevity Center in California.
I would probably focus on highlighting the importance of diabetes patients optimizing their healthcare by making sure they are screened for osteoporosis and talk to their doctor about any cognitive concerns, says Dr. Kado, who was not involved in the research.
She notes that diabetes patients are at particular risk for cardiovascular problems, including vascular dementia (caused by issues that disrupt blood flow to the brain).
While the study did not explore the cause of this association, Kado suggests that it may simply be two signs of deterioration that are occurring in parallel: As people age, they tend to lose the calcium in their bones and gain calcium in their arteries, including in the small arteries that are in our brain, she says.
Bone density testing may help flag those at risk for simultaneous skeletal and neurologic decline, allowing earlier screening and risk-factor management, she says.
The Study Has Some Limitations
Kado praises the new research for including a large, diverse multi-ethnic population and using state-of-the-art measures, but she views the magnitude of the differences measured as very small, bringing into question their clinical relevance.
Also, because the study is observational, it could not demonstrate whether bone loss causes brain change, but simply that there appears to be a link.
Momtazmanesh says that shed be curious to see future research on the impact of osteoporosis medications on brain changes that occur with aging.
There Are Ways to Keep Bones and Brain in Better Shape
There are likely many shared risk factors for different diseases that might not seem related, such as osteoporosis and dementia, according to Kado.
That suggests that taking steps toward adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors might decrease the risk of multiple diseases at once.
These measures that may simultaneously help bone and brain health include:
- Following a diet of minimally processed foods
- Getting regular physical activity, including weight-bearing resistance training
- Not smoking
- Keeping alcohol consumption to a minimum
- Checking vitamin D levels with a healthcare provider and taking supplementation if indicated (Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Vitamin D also plays an important role in brain health and cognitive function.)
- Keeping diabetes and blood pressure well managed to protect blood vessels in both the bones and the brain
Anyone with risk factors should talk with their doctor about formal bone density testing, since low bone density causes no symptoms until something breaks, says Momtazmanesh.
If youve had a chest CT scan for a lung cancer screening, calcium scoring, nodule follow-up, or other reason your physicians may already have useful information about your bone density.
These scans could provide an opportunistic measurement of bone density from the spine that is associated with a loss of cognitive function, says Momtazmanesh.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
- Momtazmanesh S et al. Deep Learning-derived Bone Mineral Density and Longitudinal White Matter Microstructure and Cognitive Decline: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Radiology. September 22, 2026.
- Bone Density. MedlinePlus. May 14, 2024.
- Li X et al. Estimated Bone Mineral Density and White Matter Hyperintensities: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study. Bone. October 2024.
- What Is Vascular Dementia? Alzheimers.gov. June 24, 2026.
- Calcium and Vitamin D: Important for Bone Health. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. May 2023.
- Anjum I et al. The Role of Vitamin D in Brain Health: A Mini Literature Review. Cureus. July 10, 2018.
Tom Gavin
Fact-Checker
Tom Gavin joined Everyday Health as copy chief in 2022 after a lengthy stint as a freelance copy editor. He has a bachelor's degree in psychology from College of the Holy Cross.
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Don Rauf
Author
Don Rauf has been a freelance health writer for over 12 years and his writing has been featured in HealthDay, CBS News, WebMD, U.S. News & World Report, Mental Floss, United Press ...
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