Re: Fat Patterns Linked With Metabolic Syndrome in Normal-Weight Elderly

[Guest guest]

Hi Al:

Thanks for alerting us to that report. But do we know how " normal

weight " was defined in this study? If they defined it as 'the

current population average for people of that age' then we are

talking about people with a BMI of about 29. (I recently checked

this in the NHANES III data).

If they define 'normal' weight as a healthy BMI of, for a number, 23,

then how come visceral fat is such an issue for them?

Do you see where I am coming from? They may simply be saying that

having a BMI the same as everyone else of the same age (BMI = 29) is

a serious problem. Which, if that is what they are saying, will not

be news to anyone here. Nor a health issue for anyone who has been

on a CRON diet for a year or two.

I remember people a decade or two ago who had been told their

cholesterol was 'normal' and thought that meant they were healthy!

Is this a similar (definitional) syndrome, I wonder?

[Pretty soon the school system will be defining kids who are

illiterate as 'normal', and by implication therefore, 'OK' and

nothing to be concerned about.].

Rodney.

--- In , " Al Young " <acyoung@r...>

wrote:

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> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 14 - Older people who carry

their weight

> around their waist are at risk of developing metabolic syndrome,

even if

> their BMI is normal, a new study shows.

>

> In fact, the association between visceral adipose tissue and

the

> syndrome was stronger in normal-weight subjects than in overweight

or obese

> individuals. Also, women who did not have the syndrome had a higher

> proportion of overall body fat than women who did, Dr. Bret H.

Goodpaster of

> the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania, and

colleagues

> found.

>

> " Clearly there's something going on other than just total

obesity or

> total body fat, " Dr. Goodpaster told Reuters Health.

>

> There is little information on specific risk factors for the

metabolic

> syndrome in older individuals, Dr. Goodpaster and his team note in

their

> report in the April 11th issue of the Archives of Internal

Medicine. They

> investigated whether the amount of abdominal adipose tissue and

skeletal

> muscle-associated adipose tissue were associated with the syndrome

in 3305

> men and women between 70 and 79 years old.

>

> Overall, 39% of the subjects had the metabolic syndrome, with

the

> condition being more common in women and obese individuals. While

the same

> proportion of white and black study participants had the syndrome,

the

> prevalence of the five factors that constitute the syndrome varied

by race.

> Whites were more likely to have dyslipidemia, while African-

Americans had

> higher rates of high blood pressure and abnormal glucose metabolism.

>

> This makes it clear, Dr. Goodpaster told Reuters Health, that

> clinicians are far from being able to treat metabolic syndrome as a

single

> unified disorder, but must still focus on treating individual

components.

>

> The researchers also found that visceral adipose tissue

increased the

> risk of metabolic syndrome, with the association being particularly

strong

> in normal-weight individuals.

>

> For example, men of normal weight with excess abdominal fat

were 2.1

> times more likely to have the syndrome, while abdominal fat

increased the

> syndrome risk by 1.8-fold in overweight men and by 1.2-fold in

obese men. A

> similar association was seen in women, with normal-weight women

with

> abdominal fat at 3.3 times greater risk of the metabolic syndrome,

compared

> with a 2.4-fold greater risk of the syndrome among overweight women

and a

> 1.7-fold increased risk in obese women.

>

> Subcutaneous abdominal fat was only associated with metabolic

syndrome

> in normal-weight men, the researchers found, while subcutaneous fat

in the

> thighs of obese men and women seemed to be protective against the

syndrome.

>

> The good news, noted Dr. Goodpaster, is that the fat deposits

> associated with metabolic syndrome are often the first to go when a

person

> loses weight. " When these people lose weight either with exercise

or dieting

> these seem to be the fastest depots to be burned, " he said.

>

> The findings also show, the researcher added, that clinicians

should

> look beyond body weight and overall body composition in assessing

older

> patients' risk of metabolic syndrome.

>

> Arch Intern Med 2005;165:777-783.

>

>

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