Why Does Women's Bone Density Beat Body Fat at Fifty?

On Huberman Lab, body fat is the least interesting of the four results a DEXA scan produces and ranks fourth for health. Bone mineral density, visceral fat, and the metrics used to compute appendicular lean mass index and fat-free mass index are significantly more important than body fat.

Bone mineral density speaks to the risk of osteoporosis and osteopenia. It does not sound very sexy to fifty-year-old men. A fifty-year-old woman who is just about to go through menopause or has just gone through menopause is at enormous risk for osteopenia and ultimately osteoporosis, because estrogen is the single most important hormone regulating bone mineral density.

The bone loss is a huge cause of morbidity. Over the age of sixty-five, a fall that breaks the hip carries about thirty to forty percent one-year morbidity.