Metabolic correlates of nonalcoholic fatty liver in women and men

Gloria L Vega, Manisha Chandalia, Lidia S. Szczepaniak, Scott M Grundy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nonalcoholic hepatic steatosis associates with a clustering of metabolic risk factors and steatohepatitis. One risk factor for hepatic steatosis is obesity, but other factors likely play a role. We examined metabolic concomitants of hepatic steatosis in nonobese and obese men and women. Sixty-one obese women and 35 obese men were studied; both those with and without hepatic steatosis were compared against each other and against nonobese controls (17 women and 32 men) without hepatic steatosis. Obesity (defined as S25% body fat in men and ≤35% in women), was identified by x-ray absorptiometry , whereas hepatic steatosis (≤5.5% liver fat) was detected by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The primary endpoint was a difference in insulin sensitivity. Obese groups with and without steatosis had similar body fat percentages. Compared with obese women without hepatic steatosis, those with steatosis were more insulin resistant; the same was true for men, although differences were less striking. Obese subjects with hepatic steatosis had higher ratios of truncal-to-lower body fat and other indicators of adipose tissue dysfunction compared with obese subjects without steatosis. Conclusion: These results support the concept that obesity predisposes to hepatic steatosis; but in addition, insulin resistance beyond that induced by obesity alone and a relatively high ratio of truncal-to-lower body fat usually combined with obesity to produce an elevated liver fat content.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)716-722
Number of pages7
JournalHepatology
Volume46
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Hepatology

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