Brain insulin sensitivity is linked to adiposity and body fat distribution

Abstract

Brain insulin action regulates eating behavior and energy fluxes throughout the body. However, numerous people are brain insulin resistant. How brain insulin responsiveness affects long-term weight and body fat composition in humans is still unknown. Here we show that high brain insulin sensitivity before lifestyle intervention associates with a more pronounced reduction in total and visceral fat during the program. High brain insulin sensitivity is also associated with less regain of fat mass during a nine year follow-up. Cross-sectionally, strong insulin responsiveness of the hypothalamus associates with less visceral fat, while subcutaneous fat is unrelated. Our results demonstrate that high brain insulin sensitivity is linked to weight loss during lifestyle intervention and associates with a favorable body fat distribution. Since visceral fat is strongly linked to diabetes, cardiovascular risk and cancer, these findings have implications beyond metabolic diseases and indicate the necessity of strategies to resolve brain insulin resistance.

Metformin May Contribute to Inter-individual Variability for Glycemic Responses to Exercise

“…In either case, there remains limited data in humans with obesity or T2D confirming the effects of exercise on brain insulin sensitivity in relation to glucose metabolism. It was shown that lifestyle modification inducing weight loss, including increased physical activity and low-fat diet, increased brain insulin sensitivity in people with obesity as assessed by intranasal insulin spray ( 107 ). Moreover, Honkala et al ( 108 ) demonstrated in sedentary middle-aged adults with insulin resistance sprint interval training for 2 weeks lowered insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in the temporal cortex, cingulate gyrus, cerebellum as well as global regions when compared with moderate continuous training.…”

Brain insulin sensitivity is linked to body fat distribution—the positron emission tomography perspective

“…Dear Sir, In a recent study by Kullmann and colleagues [1], the authors showed that brain insulin sensitivity predicts weight loss at follow-up of nearly 10 years. Furthermore, in a crosssectional experiment, good hypothalamic insulin responsiveness was associated with lesser visceral fat mass, while no correlation was detected with subcutaneous fat mass.…”

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