Kemp JP, Sayers A, Fraser WD, et al. - In 15-year-olds from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, researchers explored connections between a metabolic screen concentrating on fat metabolism and peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) measures of the mid-tibia. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to create metabolic profiles from blood samples taken with pQCT scans. Study participants included 1,121 patients with a mean age of 15 years. Only the connection between citrate and BMD_C stayed below the Bonferroni-significant threshold, following additional adjustment for height, fat, and lean mass. Citrate also showed evidence of links with periosteal circumference (PC) and strength strain index and was strongly associated to serum β-C-telopeptides of type I collagen (β-CTX). The above connections between citrate and BMD_C, PC, and strength strain index were no longer noticed following the additional adjustment for β-CTX. In conclusion, circulating citrate levels are inversely associated to BMD_C and positively associated to PC in adolescents reflecting links with higher bone turnover.