ABSTRACT
Optimising peak bone mineral parameters during adolescence is an important factor for the prevention of osteoporosis in later years. The pubertal growth spurt is the period of rapid acceleration in the growth velocity of almost all skeletal tissue. Usually studies have examined differences in bone mineral density (BMD) between underweight adolescents attributed to diseases such as anorexia nervosa and their normal weight peers (Castro et al., 2002; Misra et al., 2008). Vigorous physical activity has been related to BMD in adolescent boys (Garcia-Marco et al., 2011). However, most studies of physical activity (PA) and bone mineral parameters in adolescents have been carried out on elite sporting populations, while normally active underweight adolescent boys have not been widely studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between BMD, body composition and PA parameters in underweight boys during pubertal growth spurt and to compare the results with normal weight boys.
