title: Body fat deposition in adult obese women. II. Changes in fat distribution accompanying weight reduction.
abstract: This study examined changes in body fat distribution in 68 women who lost an average of 12.3 kg from an initial weight of 103.6 kg. Weight reduction was accompanied by a small but statistically significant reduction of 1.2% in the waist-to-hip ratio, suggestive of a reduction in upper-body obesity. Subjects with greater upper-body obesity tended to achieve greater reductions in the waist-to-hip ratio. Changes in five circumference measures were highly correlated with losses of fat and showed that subjects with lower-body obesity tended to lose large amounts of fat from both their upper and lower fat depots while subjects with upper-body obesity lost fat primarily from their upper depots. Women with lower-body obesity tended to lose more total body fat than did women with upper body obesity (r = -0.26, p less than 0.04).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Wadden
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Stunkard
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Pierson
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Van Itallie
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peña
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000886:Anthropometry; D001830:Body Surface Area; D001835:Body Weight; D004038:Diet, Reducing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D012885:Skinfold Thickness