Serum osteocalcin is related to abdominal obesity in Korean obese and overweight men.
BACKGROUND
Growing evidence suggests a link between body composition and serum osteocalcin. Here we examined such an association between serum osteocalcin and body composition in Korean obese men.


METHODS
Eighty-six men, aged 20 to 76 years, who visited the obesity clinic at the Division of Family Medicine, Severance hospital, Seoul, Korea were recruited for this study. Abdominal fat computed tomography (CT) scans were performed to measure the visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA).


RESULTS
Serum osteocalcin levels were negatively correlated with age, VFA, and VFA/SFA ratio. In addition, serum osteocalcin levels were significantly decreased in obese and overweight subjects with visceral obesity (12.7±3.2) compared to those without visceral obesity (18.6±4.9). Multiple regression analysis showed that serum osteocalcin levels were associated with VFA in obese and overweight men after adjustment for age, insulin resistance, current smoking, alcohol consumption and adiposity indices.


CONCLUSIONS
Osteocalcin was inversely related to visceral obesity in Korean obese and overweight men. These results suggest cross-talk between bone and adipose tissue.
Kim
Sang-Hwan
SH
Department of Family Medicine, Myongji Hospital, Kwandong University College of Medicine, 697-24, Hwajeong-dong, Deogyang-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Lee
Ji-Won
JW
Im
Jee-Aee
JA
Hwang
Hee-Jin
HJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D001823:Body Composition; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D015675:Osteocalcin / Q000097:blood*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult
D015675:Osteocalcin; D005947:Glucose