Altered Fat Tissue Distribution in Young Adult Men Who Had Low Birth Weight

Obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, is associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, and although the mechanistic basis is not fully known, several characteristics of the metabolically active visceral fat depot, including ready release of free fatty acids and adipokines into the portal circulation, have been proposed as potential mediators of whole-body insulin resistance. Rasmussen et al determine whole-body fat content and regional fat distribution by anthropometrical measurements and dual energy-energy X-ray absorptiometry in two independent cohorts of randomly selected healthy young men identified through the Danish Medical Birth Registry according to birth weight.