The relationship of visceral adipose tissue and glucose disposal is
independent of sex in black niddm subjects.
Banerji, Mary Ann, Jonathan Lebowitz, Rochelle L. Chaiken, David
Gordon, John G. Kral, and Harold E. Lebovitz.
Department of Medicine, Radiology and Surgery, SUNY Health Science
Center at Brooklyn, 450 Clarkson Ave Brooklyn New York 11203
APStracts 4:0102E, 1997.
To determine the interrelationship among insulin action, total or
regional adiposity, and sex, we measured insulin-mediated glucose
disposal by the euglycemic insulin clamp and adipose distribution
using computed axial tomography (22 scans) in 32 black men and 20
black women with NIDDM (age 48+9 and 54+9 years, BMI 26.3+2.3 and
27.2+2.6 kg/m2 respectively). Women had approximately 80% more total
& subcutaneous fat volume than men (31.8+8.3 vs 18.6+6.1 liters &
28.5+7.3 vs 14.7+4.6 liters) and less muscle volume (22.9+3.7 vs
35.1+3.8 liters). Visceral fat volume did not differ between men and
women (3.49+1.65 vs 2.96+1.22 liters).
Despite these body composition differences, an inverse non-linear
relationship existed between glucose disposal and visceral fat
independent of sex (r=-0.58, p<0.0001; men r=-0.60 and women -0.59;
the slope and intercept were not different in men and women).
Visceral fat explained a significant portion (34%) of variance in
insulin-mediated glucose disposal while total or subcutaneous fat and
sex did not. Visceral fat appears to affect glucose disposal over a
restricted range (up to 2.5 liters/m2 BSA).
Received 11 November 1996; accepted in final form 31 March 1997.
APS Manuscript Number E571-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1997 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 13 May 1997