title: Visceral obesity and the heart.
abstract: Obesity and particularly its deleterious form, visceral adiposity, has reached a high prevalence in the industrialized world owing to the lack of exercise and the widely available energy-dense diet. As a consequence, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders are afflicting an unprecedented number of individuals at a world-wide scale. Over the last decades, investigations have established firm links between visceral obesity and the development of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, studies in the field of lipid partitioning have demonstrated that inadequacy of homeostatic mechanism ensuring adequate handling of energy surplus is associated with accumulation of visceral fat and lipid overload of internal organs, which are participating to the development of heart diseases. Visceral obesity and its metabolic consequences often referred to as the metabolic syndrome is associated with the production of an atherosclerosis prone milieu. In this review, clinical implications of visceral obesity on the development of cardiovascular disorders are reviewed along with important mechanisms participating to the development of these disorders. Implications and failure of lipid partitioning and some of the potential pathways mediating development of heart diseases are also covered in view of recent development of therapeutic options.
authors.affiliation: Laval Hospital Research Center/Quebec Heart Institute, Department of Surgery, Laval University, 2725 Chemin Ste-Foy, Quebec, Canada, G1V-4G5. patrick.mathieu@chg.ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mathieu
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pibarot
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Larose
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poirier
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marette
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Després
mesh_terms: D052242:Adiponectin / Q000378:metabolism; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D050218:Body Fat Distribution; D063385:Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators / Q000378:metabolism; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000517:prevention & control; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000209:etiology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin; D063385:Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators