Weighted Vests Do Not Prevent Weight Loss-Linked Bone Loss at Hip

TUESDAY, July 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For older adults with obesity, neither weighted vest use nor resistance training (RT) mitigates weight loss (WL)-associated bone loss at the hip, according to a study published online June 20 in JAMA Network Open.

Kristen M. Beavers, Ph.D., from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues examined the effect of 12 months of weighted vest use during WL on indicators of bone health compared with WL alone and WL plus progressive RT in a single-blind, randomized clinical trial of older adults living with obesity.

The researchers randomly assigned 150 older adults with obesity to one of three groups (50 to WL [caloric restriction targeting 10 percent WL, with adequate calcium, vitamin D, and protein], 50 to WL plus weighted vest for eight hours/day [WL + VEST], and 50 to WL + RT [three sessions per week]); 133 participants completed the trial. All groups achieved similar, significant WL, ranging from 9.0 to 11.2 percent. All treatment groups had a significant decrease in total hip trabecular volumetric bone mineral density at 12 months, ranging from −1.2 to −1.9 percent, with no difference between the WL+VEST and WL groups and noninferiority of WL+VEST versus WL+RT. For total hip areal bone mineral density, similar effects were observed.

“We hoped that replacing lost weight externally or increasing mechanical loading through exercise would preserve bone, but our findings show that these strategies alone may not be enough,” Beavers said in a statement.

Abstract/Full Text