Obesity, Abdominal Obesity, and Insulin Resistance
Section snippets
Defining Obesity
Obesity is characterized by excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body; however, clinically, an accurate quantification of excess body fat is difficult to achieve. Body weight can provide an indirect estimate of fat stores, but the variability of body build and composition makes it difficult to define a specific level for obesity.6
Generally, the correlation between percentage of body fat and body mass index (BMI) is positive, especially when body fat is measured in the research
Obesity-Associated Morbidity And Mortality
The current epidemic of obesity is the major factor underlying the growing prevalence of type 2 DM. The strong relation between elevated BMI and risk for type 2 DM was identified in 2 large epidemiologic studies— the Nurses' Health Study9 and the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study.10 Other studies11, 12, 13, 14 indicate that obesity may reduce a person's life expectancy. Data from the Framingham Study11 show that a nonsmoking obese woman will lose 7.1 years of life and a nonsmoking obese man
Location of Fat Determines Metabolic Risk
From the standpoint of metabolic risk, the location of excess fat is important. Evidence from epidemiologic and metabolic studies20, 21 has shown that adverse metabolic consequences of excess fat are more closely related to the location of fat than to the amount of fat. Indeed, central accumulation of fat may be a better predictor of increased risk for type 2 DM and CVD than is absolute fat mass.22 Conversely, accumulation of fat in the gluteofemoral areas is not associated with increased
Obesity And Insulin Resistance
Adipose tissue, as the body's major energy depot, stores energy in the form of triglycerides and releases energy in the form of free fatty acids (FFAs) and glycerol.32 Adipose tissue plays an important role in metabolic homeostasis not only through its direct control over large stores of energy but also through its secretion of various bioactive proteins that collectively are called adipokines.33, 35 Obesity has been shown to affect the production of FFAs and adipokines36 and to be associated
Improving Insulin Sensitivity In Obesity
Weight loss and physical activity are known to improve insulin activity and glucose homeostasis.3 Clinical trials have proven that weight loss with lifestyle modification can prevent people at high risk from developing type 2 DM and reduce their risk of developing metabolic syndrome.44, 45 Treatment with metformin was also shown to prevent these problems but was not as successful as lifestyle modifications. Weight reduction also has been shown to reduce levels of PAI-1. TNF-α, and IL-6 and
Conclusions
Obesity is a complex disorder. This is especially apparent when the connection between obesity and insulin resistance is examined. There appear to be important differences in the metabolic effects of adipose depots, depending on their location (ie, peripheral or central) and whether they are characterized as visceral or subcutaneous. Obesity-related changes in adipocyte function are associated with abnormalities in FFA levels and adipokine expression, which in turn are important promoters of
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2024, Scientific AfricanThe association between early-life famine exposure and adulthood obesity on the risk of dyslipidemia
2022, Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular DiseasesCitation Excerpt :In addition, previous studies demonstrated that famine exposure in early life was associated with an increased risk of obesity in adulthood [12,19]. Besides, as important risk factors for cardiometabolic disease, distinct obesity patterns, such as general and abdominal obesity, may differently affect dyslipidemia, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases risk [20,21]. However, no study has assessed the effect of adult general or abdominal obesity on the association between famine exposure and dyslipidemia, especially the joint associations of these factors with risk of dyslipidemia.
Relationship of parental feeding practices and diet with children's diet among South Asians in Canada
2022, AppetiteCitation Excerpt :South Asians, who make up one quarter of the world population and are among the fastest growing immigrant groups to Western countries (Ethnic diversity and immi, 2011; Volgman et al., 2018; World Population Data She, 2017), have a higher risk and younger onset of diabetes and CVD compared to Caucasians (Volgman et al., 2018). This is due, in part, to biology (propensity to higher relative body fat and visceral fat (Rana et al., 2014; Westphal, 2008)), and to behaviours (more sedentary lifestyles and dietary patterns (Rana et al., 2014; Volgman et al., 2018)) conducive to obesity and CVD which are apparent even in childhood (Noor et al., 2020; Sadananthan et al., 2019). Furthermore, unhealthy dietary patterns of South Asian children in Western countries are associated with acculturation (Noor et al., 2020) making diet an important modifiable target for CVD risk reduction among South Asian children.
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Current affiliation: Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona.