title: Relationship of fat distribution to glucose tolerance. Results of computed tomography in male participants of the Normative Aging Study.
abstract: Computed tomography (CT) scanning was used to assess the relationship of glucose tolerance to fat distribution in men. Three cross sections [chest (including upper arms), abdomen, and thigh] were scanned in 41 men randomly selected from the Normative Aging Study, a longitudinal study of aging. Greater amounts of fat in the upper body and greater ratios of upper-body fat to lower-body fat were significantly correlated with higher 2-h serum glucose levels after adjustment for age and body mass index. In particular, intra-abdominal fat, a feature uniquely measured by CT, was a significant correlate of 2-h glucose. Largely parallel results were obtained when we compared a sample of male diabetic subjects (N = 8) with the male normal subjects from our random sample. This investigation demonstrates that body fat distribution, adjusted for overall degree of obesity, is a significant correlate of glucose tolerance even in a sample unselected for extremes of physique.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001823:Body Composition; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013909:Thorax; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose