Effects of GH and/or Sex Steroid Administration on Abdominal Subcutaneous and Visceral Fat in Healthy Aged Women and Men

Abstract

Aging is associated with reduced GH, IGF-I, and sex steroid axis activity and with increased abdominal fat. We employed a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, noncross-over design to study the effects of 6 months of administration of GH alone (20 microg/kg BW), sex hormone alone (hormone replacement therapy in women, testosterone enanthate in men), or GH + sex hormone on total abdominal area, abdominal sc fat, and visceral fat in 110 healthy women (n = 46) and men (n = 64), 65-88 yr old (mean, 72 yr). GH administration increased IGF-I levels in women (P = 0.05) and men (P = 0.0001), with the increment in IGF-I levels being higher in men (P = 0.05). Sex steroid administration increased levels of estrogen and testosterone in women and men, respectively (P = 0.05). In women, neither GH, hormone replacement therapy, nor GH + hormone replacement therapy altered total abdominal area, sc fat, or visceral fat significantly. In contrast, in men, administration of GH and GH + testosterone enanthate decreased total abdominal area by 3.9% and 3.8%, respectively, within group and vs. placebo (P = 0.05). Within-group comparisons revealed that sc fat decreased by 10% (P = 0.01) after GH, and by 14% (P = 0.0005) after GH + testosterone enanthate. Compared with placebo, sc fat decreased by 14% (P = 0.05) after GH, by 7% (P = 0.05) after testosterone enanthate, and by 16% (P = 0.0005) after GH + testosterone enanthate. Compared with placebo, visceral fat did not decrease significantly after administration of GH, testosterone enanthate, or GH + testosterone enanthate. These data suggest that in healthy older individuals, GH and/or sex hormone administration elicits a sexually dimorphic response on sc abdominal fat. The generally proportionate reductions we observed in sc and visceral fat, after 6 months of GH administration in healthy aged men, contrast with the disproportionate reduction of visceral fat reported after a similar period of GH treatment of nonelderly GH deficient men and women. Whether longer term administration of GH or testosterone enanthate, alone or in combination, will reduce abdominal fat distribution-related cardiovascular risk in healthy older men remains to be elucidated.

Body compositional and cardiometabolic effects of testosterone therapy in obese men with severe obstructive sleep apnoea: a randomised placebo-controlled trial

“…Furthermore, this finding is consistent with the hypothesis that changes in insulin sensitivity occur before changes in VAF (15). Nevertheless, previous randomised placebo-controlled studies using computer imaging to estimate VAF have generally shown no change in VAF after 6-24 months of testosterone treatment (21,22,23,24). One notable exception is a study of non-obese older men with agerelated hypogonadism, which reported a between-group reduction in VAF that was driven by an increase in the placebo group (70).…”

“…In addition, testosterone therapy decreases visceral abdominal fat (VAF) (13,14,15) and improves insulin sensitivity (16,17,18,19,20) in some but not in all (21,22,23,24,25,26) studies. Specific characteristics of the populations studied may contribute to these discrepancies.…”

Testosterone therapy decreases subcutaneous fat and adiponectin in aging men

“…Regarding the effect of testosterone therapy on regional fat distribution, studies on abdominally obese, aging men have been conflicting, probably due to the use of oral preparations of testosterone (6,7,8). Studies that used sufficient testosterone doses reported a significant decrease in subcutaneous fat on the abdomen (SAT), but no change in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) during testosterone therapy (9,10), whereas an old study on middle-aged obese men with higher baseline testosterone levels reported no change in SAT and a decrease in VAT (11). Data on changes in lower extremity fat during testosterone therapy are limited.…”

Wachstumshormontherapie beim Erwachsenen

“…In te res san te Da ten er ga ben sich aus der Stu die von Mün zer et al [9] be züg lich des Ziel pa ra me ters vis zera les Fett (Än derung ge mes sen mit tels Kern spin to mo graphie). Ins ge samt wa ren 110 äl te re, ge sunde Men schen im Al ter zwi schen 65 bis 88 Jah re ein ge schlos sen, be han delt wurde mit Wachs tums hor mon 20 µg/kgKG 3-mal pro Wo che für ein hal b es Jahr.…”