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Adipose tissue depots

Condition Overview:

Abdominal obesity is associated with a high risk of type 2 diabetesand cardiovascular disease  . In contrast, lower body obesitydoes not have the same associations, and may in fact, exert a protective effect . The reason for this difference in the effects of adipose tissue according to its anatomical distribution is unclear.

Adipose tissue is also thought to play an active role in the regulation of energy storage and release, thus helping to protect the body against the adverse peaks and troughs of NEFAs that would otherwise occur in the course of a day .

This "buffering" action of NEFAs by adipose tissue is important. In the presence of inadequate NEFA buffering, other tissues are exposed to elevated NEFA concentrations. It has been suggested that this exposure is a prime cause of the insulin resistance found in obesity. The mechanism for this is unclear, but in obesity, there may be an excessive release of NEFAs from adipose tissue. This substrate competition causes an inhibition of glucose use in muscle . This hypothesis, originally proposed by Randle et al. , is supported by data showing that infusions of a lipid emulsion into lean healthy volunteers increased lipid oxidation and decreased glucose use.