Obesity and type 2 diabetes

Abstract

The rise in obesity -and specifically abdominal obesity -is driving the global increase in type 2 diabetes. Excess visceral fat, the causative factor behind abdominal obesity, is closely linked with β -cell dysfunction and insulin resistance, two of the key components of type 2 diabetes pathogenesis. Attempts to curb the current abdominal obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemics will require a government-led public health approach, in tandem with a personal approach aimed at helping abdominally obese individuals reduce their cardiovascular and metabolic (cardiometabolic) risk profile.

Visceral fat versus subcutaneous fat: comparison of their association with type 2 diabetes mellitus

“…9,10,14,26 Many studies have documented that VF is associated with increased incidence of metabolic syndrome and has significantly stronger relation with insulin resistance and diabetes. [7][8][9][10]14,19 Findings in this study corroborates with previous studies as this study (table 2) shows that visceral fat has a stronger association with development of diabetes compared to subcutaneous fat independent of measurement site.…”

“…[15][16][17][18] Others have documented that VF is associated with an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome and has significantly stronger relation with insulin resistance and diabetes. [7][8][9][10]14,19 SCF is not consistently reported to be a significant correlate of metabolic syndrome or its individual component. However, some [20][21][22][23][24] studies have shown associations between SCF, insulin resistance and diabetes.…”

“…While abdominal obesity is determined by the accumulation of both SCF and VF, the excess accumulation of VF appears to play a more significant pathogenic role. 4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Compared to SCF, VF is much more strongly linked to insulin resistance and T2DM. 4,[7][8][9][10]14 However, controversy still exists regarding the contribution of subcutaneous and visceral fat in the development of diabetes.…”

Low-calorie diet induced weight loss may alter regulatory hormones and contribute to rebound visceral adiposity in obese persons with a family history of type-2 diabetes

“…Overweight individuals with a family history of type‐2 diabetes and those with excessive abdominal girth are at increased risk for developing diabetes (Appel, Jones, & Kennedy‐Malone, ; Frayn, ; Liu et al, ; Waine, ). Weight loss is purported to reduce the risk of progression to diabetes in this population; however, most studies have not clearly shown that weight‐loss, itself, is beneficial to health or that it can be maintained in obese individuals over time.…”