Another good reason to consider trimming the waistline: men with belly fat are at a greater risk of weak bones than men who tend to gain weight in their thighs or rear.

Harvard scientists have linked belly fat in men to weaker bones. ©zwola fasola/shutterstock.com

The study follows previous research that found that belly fat is bad for women's bones.

"Most studies on osteoporosis have focused on women," says researcher Dr. Miriam Bredella, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. "Men were thought to be relatively protected against bone loss, especially obese men."

Bredella and colleagues evaluated 35 obese men averaging around 34 years old with a body mass index (BMI) of around 36. The men underwent CT scans of the abdomen and thigh to assess fat and muscle mass, as well as a very high resolution CT scan of the forearm and a technique called finite element analysis (FEA) in order to assess bone strength and predict fracture risk.

Men with deep belly fat were found to have much weaker bones than other obese men, the researchers reported.

"It is important for men to be aware that excess belly fat is not only a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes, it is also a risk factor for bone loss," Bredella adds.

The findings were presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.