Association of Genetic Variants Related to Gluteofemoral vs Abdominal Fat Distribution With Type 2 Diabetes, Coronary Disease, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Publication: JAMA Network
Lotta LA, Wittemans LBL, Zuber V, Stewart ID, Sharp SJ, Luan J, et al.
25 December 2018
The distribution of body fat is associated with the propensity of overweight individuals to manifest insulin resistance and its associated metabolic and cardiovascular complications.
The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is a widely used, convenient, and robustly validated indicator of fat distribution and is linked to the risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary disease independently of body mass index (BMI).
This observation has been used to infer that accumulation of fat in the abdominal cavity is an independent causal contributor to cardiometabolic disease. While many studies support this assertion and plausible mechanisms have been proposed, WHR can also be increased by a reduction in its denominator, the hip circumference.
Evidence from several different forms of partial lipodystrophy and functional studies of peripheral adipose storage compartments suggests that a primary inability to expand gluteofemoral or hip fat can also underpin subsequent cardiometabolic disease risk.
Emerging evidence from the analysis of common genetic variants associated with greater insulin resistance but lower levels of hip fat suggests that similar mechanisms may also be relevant to the general population.
In this study, large-scale human genetic data were used to investigate whether genetic variants related to body fat distribution via lower levels of gluteofemoral (hip) fat or via higher levels of abdominal (waist) fat are associated with type 2 diabetes or coronary disease risk.
