Regional subcutaneous-fat loss induced by caloric restriction in obese women.
OBJECTIVE
With anthropometric models using skinfolds and circumferences, we studied changes in the percentage of subcutaneous fat in the total cross-sectional area (SF%) at four body sites in obese women, before and after weight loss induced by 6 months of caloric restriction.


METHODS
In 61 obese women [31 African Americans and 30 whites; ages, 24 to 68 years; body mass index (BMI), > or =28 kg/m(2)], we measured SF% at the midpoint of the upper arm and thigh and the waistline and hipline, and we measured the percentage of total body fat by DXA before (Obs#1) and after (Obs#2) a 6-month nonintervention control period and then after 6 months on a 1200 kcal/d diet (Obs#3).


RESULTS
The mean body weight and BMI increased (1.8 kg and 0.61 kg/m(2); p = 0.0001), but there were no significant changes in any other body composition measurements from Obs#1 to Obs#2. The means of Obs#3 for weight and BMI decreased by 11%, and the percentage of total body fat decreased by 13% of Obs#2 mean values (p = 0.0001). The mean SF% at each site decreased 7.6% to 18.0% of the Obs#2 mean values (p < 0.001). The SF% decreases were greater at mid-arm and mid-thigh than in the cross-sectional regions at the waistline and hipline (p = 0.05). There was no interaction between age or ethnicity (p > 0.2).


CONCLUSIONS
In obese women, caloric restriction alone reduces anthropometrically measured subcutaneous fat proportionally more in peripheral than in central regions.
Wang
Jack
J
Body Composition Unit, Obesity Research Center, Department of Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University, 1111 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10025, USA. jw9@columbia.edu
Laferrère
Blandine
B
Thornton
John C
JC
Pierson
Richard N
RN
Pi-Sunyer
F Xavier
FX
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D031204:Caloric Restriction; D004038:Diet, Reducing; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000178:diet therapy*; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D015431:Weight Loss