The Effect of Weight Loss on Bone in Men

May 8, 2026 updated by: Sue A. Shapses, Ph.D., RD, Rutgers University

Nutritional Regulation of Bone - Pilot Study

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of weight loss on bone health in men.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This pilot study of the effect of weight loss on bone health in men is being undertaken in conjunction with studies of the effect of weight loss on bone health in women for comparison purposes. See NCT00473031, NCT00472680, and NCT00472654. This information is important for determining optimal nutrient requirements during weight loss.

Participants will be recruited for both weight loss and weight maintenance. All participants will be asked to take a daily vitamin/mineral supplement and, depending on their usual food intake, they may be asked to take a calcium tablet to meet the recommended intake throughout the study period. Weight loss participants will attend regular counseling sessions (about 45 minutes each) with a dietitian for approximately 6 months; they will be asked to attend 6 sessions but will be given the opportunity to attend 13 sessions. Body composition will be measured by a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) machine, ultrasound, and peripheral quantitative computer tomography (pQCT) before and after 6 months of weight loss. Bone, mineral, protein and lipid markers, and hormones that influence bones will also be measured.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

44

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New Jersey
      • New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, 08901
        • Rutgers University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

50 years to 72 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Obese or overweight
  • Must live in the geographic vicinity of Rutgers University

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Currently on any medication known to influence calcium or bone metabolism, including HRT, or with evidence of diseases known to influence calcium metabolism (i.e. metabolic bone disease, hyperparathyroidism, untreated thyroid disease, significant immune, hepatic, or renal disease, significant cardiac disease [i.e., heart attack or stroke in the past 6 months., abnormal EKG], active malignancy or cancer therapy within the past year)
  • History of kidney stones
  • Weight gain or weight loss (5% of body wt) within 3 months prior to recruitment
  • Participation in other investigational studies during the 12-month study period
  • Usually have a very high or low intake of calcium (more than 1500 or less than 500 mg per day)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: WL
weight loss (WL) with nutrition/behavior modification counseling
Behavioral: Weight Loss
Weight loss participants will consume a reduced calorie diet based on their individual caloric needs to lose 1.5-2 lbs/week, and will attend regular counseling sessions (for about 45 minutes each) with a dietitian for 6 months
Active Comparator: WM
Weight Maintenance (WM)
Behavioral: Weight Maintenance
Diet for weight maintenance for 6 months

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Changes in bone density and quality
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Rutgers University

Collaborators

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sue Shapses, PhD, RD, Rutgers University, Nutritional Sciences

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2007

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 10, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 10, 2007

First Posted (Estimated)

May 14, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 8, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AG0084
  • 5R01AG012161 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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