Body Fat Location May Determine Type 2 Diabetes Risk for Obese Patients
Date: 26.9.2012
Obese individuals with excess visceral fat (abdominal fat that surrounds the body's internal organs) have an increased risk for the development of Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. By contrast, persons with excess abdominal subcutaneous fat (fat underneath the skin) were not at higher risk for the onset of diabetes.
The study,published in the September obesity-themed issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is one of the largest of its kind to assess a multiethnic population of obese people in the U.S. using extensive imaging of adipose tissue.
Using imaging methods to determine the location and function of body fat, researchers are able to identify obese persons who are at a higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes years before the disease appears.
