Associations of lower-body fat mass with favorable profile of lipoproteins and adipokines in healthy, slim women in early adulthood.

AIM: We determined the association of lower-body fat mass (LFM) and trunk fat mass (TFM) with cardiometabolic risk factors and adipokines in young, healthy, slim women.

METHODS

A total of 481 college female students underwent the following: regional body fat distribution as assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), a 75g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and fasting blood sampling for measurement of lipids, lipoproteins, apolipoproteins (apo), liver enzymes and adipokines.

RESULTS

After adjusting for TFM, LFM was positively associated with HDL cholesterol, adiponectin, pre-heparin lipoprotein lipase and insulin sensitivity, as estimated by the Matsuda index, whereas it was negatively related to triglycerides, apo B, apo B/A1 ratio, small dense LDL, FFA, glucose and insulin at 2h during OGTT, area under the curve of insulin response during OGTT and the white blood cell count. Participants were divided into 9 groups according to tertiles of TFM and LFM. In the middle tertile of TFM, HDL cholesterol and adiponectin increased and triglycerides, apoB/A1 ratio and plasminogen-activator inhibitor-1 decreased from the low to high LFM tertiles. Gamma-glutamyltransferase levels in middle and high LFM tertiles were lower than in the lower LFM tertile.

CONCLUSION

For a given level of trunk fat mass, a higher lower-body fat mass is associated with an advantageous profile of not only blood lipoproteins but also serum adipokines, even in healthy, slim women in early adulthood.