title: Sex hormones, body fat distribution, resting metabolic rate and glucose-induced thermogenesis in premenopausal obese women.
abstract: The topographic specificity of upper body obesity is known to be at the origin of a series of metabolic complications. In contrast to this negative effect, women with abdominal obesity usually can lose more body weight than women with gluteal-femoral obesity. In order to find some contributive explanations for this effect, we studied resting metabolic rate (RMR) and glucose-induced thermogenesis (GIT) in both types of obesity. Since upper body obesity is characterized by androgen excess, a relationship between body fat distribution, sex hormones, RMR and indices of thermogenesis was studied. Of 39 obese women who were recruited (mean age: 32.4 +/- 9.3 years), 30 were compared for analysis. Upper body obesity (waist-to-hip ratio (WHR): 0.84 +/- 0.02; body mass index (BMI) 36.2: 36.2 +/- 6.0) is not characterized by differences in RMR, whereas glucose-induced thermogenesis is significantly higher in this subgroup (P < 0.008), expressed as percentage increase above RMR (18.3 +/- 8.5 vs. 11.9 +/- 3.6%) or as percentage of metabolisable energy intake (8.2 +/- 3.3 vs. 5.8 +/- 2.3%). Correlation coefficient data show that GIT determinants are closely related to WHR (r = 0.43; P < 0.01) and not to BMI. Resting metabolic rate, both in absolute terms and corrected for fat-free mass (FFM), is not related to indices of androgenicity, but is negatively related to serum oestradiol levels; this negative relationship with oestradiol disappears when RMR is corrected for both fat mass (FM) and FFM. GIT parameters are not related to free testosterone or oestradiol, regardless of the phase of the menstrual cycle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antwerp (UIA), Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Van Gaal
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vanuytsel
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Vansant
authors.forename: I H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: De Leeuw
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000097:blood; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D017697:Premenopause; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin / Q000032:analysis; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D007328:Insulin; D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin; D013739:Testosterone; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone; D004958:Estradiol; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate