Researchers from the University of Sheffield are conducting ground-breaking research to determine how body weight and hormones affect bone health from childhood to adulthood.
The innovative study involves using revolutionary bone scanning equipment to look at the internal structure of bones in detail to assess whether body weight and hormones affect bone development during growth.
The research, funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Unit (BRU) for Musculoskeletal Disease will use a state-of-the-art XtremeCT scanner which looks at bones in minute detail, and of which there are only three in the country. The research will take place at the Northern General Hospital and The Children's Hospital Sheffield in partnership with the University.
Dr Paul Dimitri, Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist and research fellow at the University of Sheffield's Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism is leading the study.
Dr Dimitri said: "There are concerns that obesity may affect how our bones develop from childhood to adulthood and may lead to an increased risk of fracture or osteoporosis. At the moment, we do not fully understand the impact on the skeleton of being overweight during childhood and adulthood."
Obesity is a major health problem in the United Kingdom and nearly one in four adults and one in five children are now considered obese.
Dr Dimitri added: "If we have a better understanding of the factors that affect bone strength we can give better advice to patients, and we may eventually be able to develop new treatments for bone disease. In this way, the study may be of benefit to thousands of people in the future."
Notes to editors:
The research team are looking for volunteers of all sizes aged between 8 and 30 years to take part in the study. Participants must have no ongoing health problems.
Volunteers aged 16-30 who agree to take part in the study will have to make one visit to the Bone Biomedical Research Unit at the Northern General Hospital, while volunteers aged 8-15 years will be asked to firstly visit The Children's Hospital Sheffield for some tests, and then the Northern General Hospital to have a bone scan. All volunteers will have their travel expenses covered.
For more information or to take part in the study, contact Tracey Higginbottom on 0114-271-5238, or boneresearch@sheffield.ac.uk. Alternatively contact Dr Paul Dimitri on 0114-271-7354.
With nearly 25,000 students from 125 countries, the University of Sheffield is one of the UK's leading and largest universities. A member of the Russell Group, it has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.
The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007). These prestigious awards recognise outstanding contributions by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life. Sheffield also boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and many of its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence around the world.
The University's research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, ICI, Slazenger, and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. Its partnership with Leeds and York Universities in the White Rose Consortium has a combined research power greater than that of either Oxford or Cambridge.
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