Journal of Obesity

Objective. Self-reported body silhouette is an anthropometric instrument that has been utilized as a screening tool for underweight, overweight, obesity, and other abnormal anthropometric variables. Herein, we analyzed the risk associated with the self-reported body silhouette in the scope of dyslipidemias, hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, and hypertension. Methods. Adult participants of the Health Workers Cohort Study enrolled between March 2004 and April 2006 were included. Then, risk analysis was performed considering dyslipidemias as serum triglycerides, high total cholesterol, high LDL-C, low HDL-C, hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, and hypertension. Results. A total of 2,297 males and 5,003 females were analyzed. The median ages of the studied population was 39 (30–49) and 41 (31–50) years for males and females, respectively. Overall, there is a stepwise increase in the risk of presenting dyslipidemias, hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, and hypertension as the self-reported body silhouette number increases, this tendency was observed in both males and females. Conclusion. Self-reported body silhouette is a useful risk assessment tool for dyslipidemias, hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, and hypertension in Mexican adults. Applications of questioners containing this silhouette might be considered a valuable public health instrument due to their low cost, relative simplicity, and absence of specialized equipment, training, or respondent knowledge.

Background. It has been shown that dietary patterns are associated with glucose control. However, the association between the types of food consumed and blood glucose in overweight or obese individuals is still unclear. The present study aimed to determine the association between unhealthy food consumption and impaired glucose metabolism in adults with overweight or obesity. Methods. The analysis presented in this study was based on the data from a population-based, cross-sectional, nationally representative survey (Indonesian Basic Health Research 2018/RISKESDAS 2018). The body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg)/height squared (m²) and was determined based on the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for the Asian population. A validated questionnaire and food card were used to assess the diet. Fasting plasma glucose and 2-hpost-prandial glucose were employed to determine blood glucose markers. Results. In total, 8752 adults with overweight or obesity were included in this analysis. We found that consumption of sweet, grilled, and processed foods was associated with impaired fasting plasma glucose (IFG) before and after adjustment (). Consumption of high-fat foods was also associated with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) for all models tested (). Furthermore, all models showed a link between processed food consumption and combined glucose intolerance (CGI) (). Conclusions. Differential food group consumption was associated with IFG, IGT, and CGI in Indonesian adults who were overweight or obese.

Objective. The objective of this study was to functionally analyze the correlation of key histological features in brown adipose tissue (BAT) with clinical metabolic traits in nonhuman primates. Methods. Axillary adipose tissue biopsies were collected from a metabolically diverse nonhuman primate cohort with clinical metabolism-related data. Expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31), cytochrome c oxidase subunit 4 (COX IV), beta-3 adrenergic receptor (β3-AR), and adipose cell size were quantified by immunohistochemical analysis. Computed tomography scans were performed to assess body composition. Results. Tyrosine hydroxylase was negatively correlated with whole body fat mass as a percentage of body weight (p = 0.004) and was positively correlated with the density of UCP1 (p = 0.02), COX IV (p = 0.006), CD31 (p = 0.007), and cell density (p = 0.02) of the BAT samples. Beta-3 adrenergic receptor abundance had a weak positive correlation with COX IV (p = 0.04) in BAT but did not significantly correlate to UCP1 or TH expression in BAT. Conclusions. Our findings highlight that there is a disparity in innervation provided to BAT based on body composition, as seen with the negative association between TH, a marker for innervation, and adiposity. These findings also support the importance of innervation in the functionality of BAT, as TH abundance not only supports leaner body composition but is also positively correlated with known structural elements in BAT (UCP1, COX IV, CD31, and cell density). Based on our observations, β3-AR abundance does not strongly drive these structural elements or TH, all of which are known to be important in the function of brown adipose tissue. In effect, while the role of other receptors, such as β2-AR, should be reviewed in BAT function, these results support the development of safe sympathetic nervous system stimulants to activate brown adipose tissue for obesity treatment.

Insulin resistance, which affects insulin-sensitive tissues, including adipose tissues, skeletal muscle, and the liver, is the central pathophysiological mechanism underlying type 2 diabetes progression. Decreased glucose uptake in insulin-sensitive tissues disrupts insulin signaling pathways, particularly the PI3K/Akt pathway. An in vitro model is appropriate for studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying insulin resistance because it is easy to maintain and the results can be easily reproduced. The application of cell-based models for exploring the pathogenesis of diabetes and insulin resistance as well as for developing drugs for these conditions is well known. However, a comprehensive review of in vitro insulin resistance models is lacking. Therefore, this review was conducted to provide a comprehensive overview and summary of the latest in vitro insulin resistance models, particularly 3T3-L1 (preadipocyte), C2C12 (skeletal muscle), and HepG2 (liver) cell lines induced with palmitic acid, high glucose, or chronic exposure to insulin.

Background. Over the last few years, the importance of leptin in energy metabolism has been extensively studied in both animal models and in humans. Very few results are available on the association between human leptin gene (LEP) variants and obesity traits in India. We designed this study to analyse the polymorphisms in human leptin gene and the association of sequence variants with obesity among the population in Kerala, South India. Methods. In this case-control design of 148 study participants, data were collected on socioeconomic aspects and anthropometric measurements. Plasma glucose, insulin, leptin, and lipid profile were measured. Genotyping was done by automated DNA sequencing. Results. The common Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) of 5′-UTR of LEP − 2548G/A was found to be present in the study population with “A” variant as dominant allele. A novel synonymous mutation Thr5Thr of exon 2 of LEP was identified in heterozygous form in one subject with morbid obesity with hyperleptinemia. A novel missense mutation Phe17Leu was observed in two subjects with obesity in heterozygous condition. A novel missense mutation Lys36Arg in exon 2 of LEP was observed in one subject with abdominal obesity and decreased serum leptin level. Conclusion. LEP − 2548G/A at 5′-untranslated region was found to be common with the mutant “A” variant in the study population. SNPs of exons in LEP were found to be rare but associated with morbid obesity and altered levels of serum leptin in the study population in Kerala, India.

Uncontrolled prediabetes can develop into Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The incidence of T2DM among adults in Pontianak, Indonesia was reported remarkably high. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the risk factors for prediabetes in adults living in urban areas of Pontianak, Indonesia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 5 subdistricts of Pontianak. A total of 506 adults underwent screening to obtain subjects with fasting blood glucose (FBS) of ≤124 mg/dL and aged >30 years. Blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) were measured. Interview using a structured questionnaire were performed to obtain data on predictor variables (age, sex, education, income, health insurance, tobacco use, history of hypertension, gout, high cholesterol level, frequency of exercise per week, and diabetic education). The prevalence of prediabetes among subjects was significantly high (76.4%). Subjects were predominantly above 40 years, female, had low income, low education level, and had health insurance. About a third of the subjects had a history of hypertension, gout, and high cholesterol level, respectively. The exercise frequency was mostly less than 3 times/week, and the BMI was mainly classified as overweight and obese. The result of spearman’s rho correlation showed that age (r = 0.146; ) and BMI (r = 0.130; ) significantly correlated with prediabetes incidence. Moreover, the chi-square analysis demonstrated that health insurance ownership (OR = 4.473; 95% CI 1.824–10.972; ), history of hypertension (OR = 3.096; 95% CI 1.542–6.218; ), and history of gout (OR = 2.419; 95% CI 1.148–5.099; ), were associated with prediabetes incidence. For all these significant risk predictors except BMI, the significant associations were found only among female subjects after specific sex analysis. Moreover, multivariate logistic regression showed that health insurance ownerships (OR = 5.956; 95% CI 2.256–15.661; ) and history of hypertension (OR = 3.257; 95% CI 1.451–7.311; ), and systolic blood pressure (OR = 2.141; 95% CI 1.092–4.196; ) were the risk factors for prediabetes. It is concluded that the prevalence of prediabetes is probably high especially among urban people in Pontianak, Indonesia. Health insurance ownership and hypertension may have an important role in prediabetes management. The risk factors might be different between male and female.