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Whereas up to the end of the last century overweight reflected the privilege of the high society and her relative good health, the recent epidemiological studies have assessed the relations between body weight and general or cause specific morbidity and mortality. The major diseases associated with obesity are hypertension, atherosclerosis and diabetes, as well as certain types of cancer. Less well known complications include hepatic steatosis, gallbladder diseases, pulmonary function impairment, endocrine abnormalities, obstetric complications, trauma to the weight bearing joints, gout, cutaneous diseases, proteinuria, increased hemoglobin concentration and possibly immunologic impairments. From these wide epidemiological studies arise the definition of obesity: with an excess of 20% beyond the desirable weight, the complications bound to the overweight become statistically more frequent. Over there a U or J shaped curve illustrates the relation between the overweight and the degree of these various complications. An excess of 45 kg or more represents the critical level which defined "morbid obesity" with its own complications, the most important are sudden unexplained death, ventilatory disorders, circulatory congestion and functional limitations in activities of daily living and of course psychological consequences. When for certain complications, such as diabetes, the relationship with the overweight is evident, discrepancies between certain studies, especially for the cardiovascular diseases, had focused the attention on the regional patterns of fat distribution. Cross-sectional studies have shown abdominal obesity to be strongly associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease, stroke and death independent of the total degree of obesity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[The contribution of epidemiology to the definition of obesity and its risk factors]. 266 68

The association of several risk factors, obesity, dyslipoproteinemia, hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance and hypertension with Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and myocardial infarction has long been known and has been termed the "metabolic syndrome". In 1988 Reaven introduced syndrome X as the link between insulin resistance and hypertension. It has been suggested that a critical factor in the association between obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular morbidity is the mass of intraabdominal fat. Striking similarities exist between the metabolic syndrome and untreated growth hormone (GH) deficiency in adults. The central findings in both these syndromes are abdominal/visceral obesity and insulin resistance. Other features common to both conditions are premature atherosclerosis and increased mortality from cardiovascular diseases. These similarities indicate that undetectable and low levels of GH may be of importance in the metabolic aberrations observed in both these conditions. Recent investigations have found that abdominal/visceral distribution of adipose tissue is associated with endocrine disturbances including increased activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and a blunted secretion of GH and sex steroids. Theoretically, these endocrine perturbations can be a consequence of obesity, but the endocrine aberrations may have causal effects. We studied moderately obese, middle-aged men with a preponderance of abdominal body fat. As a group, they had slight to moderate metabolic changes known to be associated with abdominal/visceral obesity. Nine months of GH treatment reduced their total body fat and resulted in a specific and a marked decrease in both abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue. Moreover, insulin sensitivity improved and serum concentrations of total cholesterol and triglyceride decreased. Diastolic blood pressure also decreased. The finding that GH replacement in men with abdominal obesity can diminish the negative metabolic consequences of visceral obesity suggests that low levels of this hormone are of importance for the metabolic aberrations associated with visceral/abdominal obesity.
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PMID:Growth hormone and the metabolic syndrome. 1044 70

Insulin resistant metabolic syndrome is a major clinical disorder including hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance and/or type 2 diabetes and central obesity, which are well established cardiovascular risk factors. We report the case of a 61-year-old woman who developed severe hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia after liver transplantation. In her forties she had hypertension, mixed hyperlipidaemia, mild hyperglycaemia and moderate abdominal obesity, suggesting the presence of the metabolic syndrome. She had liver enzyme elevation and severe steatosis and hepatomegaly at ultrasonography. At age 52, cryptogenic liver cirrhosis was diagnosed and rapidly progressing liver failure developed. In 1992 she underwent liver transplantation. Seven years after transplant the patient had abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, marked hypercholesterolaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia and moderate elevation of alanine aminotransferase. She also had impaired glucose tolerance and markedly increased basal and post-glucose load plasma insulin levels. Steatohepatitis was demonstrated by serial liver biopsies. This is the first case that reports the recurrence of the metabolic syndrome following liver transplantation. We postulate that metabolic syndrome may have promoted fatty liver and subsequent progression to end stage liver disease. We also stress the need for careful management of the metabolic syndrome in order to decrease the long-term risk for cardiovascular disease.
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PMID:Recurrence of insulin resistant metabolic syndrome following liver transplantation. 1254 3

The metabolic syndrome is intended to identify patients who have increased risk of diabetes and/or a cardiac event due to the deleterious effects of weight gain, sedentary lifestyle, and/or an atherogenic diet. The National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III definition uses easily measured clinical findings of increased abdominal circumference, elevated triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, elevated fasting blood glucose and/or elevated blood pressure. Three of these five are required for diagnosis. The authors also note that other definitions of metabolic syndrome focus more on insulin resistance and its key role in this syndrome. This review focuses on how treatment might affect each of the five components. Abdominal obesity can be treated with a variety of lower calorie diets along with regular exercise. Indeed, all of the five components of the metabolic syndrome are improved by even modest amounts of weight loss achieved with diet and exercise. For those with impaired fasting glucose tolerance, there is good evidence that a high fiber, low saturated fat diet with increased daily exercise can reduce the incidence of diabetes by almost 60%. Of note, subjects who exercise the most, gain the most benefit. Metformin has also been shown to be helpful in these subjects. Thiazolidinedione drugs may prove useful, but further studies are needed. Although intensified therapeutic lifestyle change will help the abnormal lipid profile, some patients may require drug therapy. This review also discusses the use of statins, fibrates, and niacin. Likewise, while hypertension in the metabolic syndrome benefits from therapeutic lifestyle change, physicians should also consider angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor drugs or angiotensin receptor blockers, due to their effects on preventing complications of diabetes, such as progression of diabetic nephropathy and due to their effects on regression of left ventricular hypertrophy. Aspirin should be considered in those with at least a 10% risk of a coronary event over 10 years. Finally, three related conditions, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, polycystic ovary syndrome and protease inhibitor associated lipodystrophy improve with therapeutic lifestyle change. Although metformin is shown to be useful with polycystic ovary syndrome, the data supporting drug therapy for the other syndromes is less convincing. More robust studies are needed before any firm recommendations can be made.
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PMID:Treatment of metabolic syndrome. 1515 70

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been associated with metabolic disorders, including central obesity, dyslipidema, hypertension, and hyperglycemia. Metabolic syndrome, obesity, and insulin resistance are major risk factors in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. The aim of this study was to identify the relative contribution of the metabolic syndrome, obesity, and insulin resistance to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity in NAFLD. A total of 3091 subjects diagnosed with fatty liver by ultrasonography were enrolled. All components of metabolic syndrome criteria, anthropometric parameters, fasting insulin levels, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) as an inflammation marker, and ALT were measured in each subject. Homeostasis model assessment--insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) as a measure of insulin resistance and body mass index (BMI) as a measure of obesity were calculated. The prevalence of increased ALT levels (>40 IU/L) was 26.7%. Increased ALT activity was significantly associated with the following characteristics: male sex, young age, increased triglycerides, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, hs-CRP, waist circumference, BMI and diastolic blood pressure, and decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). According to the increase in the number of metabolic syndrome components, BMI, HOMA-IR, and hs-CRP, the prevalence and odds ratio for having increased ALT activity were significantly increased. Central obesity, raised triglycerides, reduced HDL-C, and raised fasting glucose were strongly associated with increased ALT activity. In conclusion, a number of metabolic syndrome components, obesity, insulin resistance, and hs-CRP, are strong predictors of increased ALT activity in NAFLD. Central obesity, raised triglycerides, reduced HDL-C, and raised fasting glucose are metabolic syndrome components that contributed to increased ALT activity.
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PMID:The association between increased alanine aminotransferase activity and metabolic factors in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. 1714 31

Risk factors for development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis include obesity, especially central adiposity, glucose intolerance or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and dyslipidemia. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now considered a manifestation of metabolic syndrome. During the last two decades, NAFLD has become the most common chronic liver disease in North America and Europe, but until recently was thought to be uncommon (perhaps due to the lack of study) in Asia. Fatty liver can be identified on imaging modalities (ultrasonography, computed tomography scans, and magnetic resonance imaging) with high sensitivity, but steatohepatitis and fibrosis cannot be distinguished. Thus, an inherent drawback in studying the epidemiology of NAFLD is the lack of definitive laboratory tests, no uniform definition-with different studies using cut-off values of alcohol consumption from <20 g/week to 210 g/week, and case selections where biopsy was used for definition. In studies outside the region, the prevalence of NAFLD varies from 16% to 42% by imaging, and 15-39% of liver biopsies. The major risk factors for NAFLD, central obesity, T2DM, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome, are now widely prevalent and are increasing geometrically in the Asia-Pacific region. It is therefore not surprising that NAFLD is common in this region. Estimates of current prevalence range from 5% to 30%, depending on the population studied. Central obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome are the major risk factors. To date, however, data on the natural history and impact of NAFLD causing serious significant chronic liver disease are lacking and there is a need for prospective, cooperative studies.
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PMID:How common is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the Asia-Pacific region and are there local differences? 1756 29

Overweight and obesity, particularly abdominal adiposity, increase the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Metabolic syndrome, a constellation of risk factors that includes elevated triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting glucose, and abdominal obesity, predicts the development of CVD and diabetes to an even greater degree. Excess abdominal adipose tissue is associated with insulin resistance, the precursor to type 2 diabetes, and creates an atherogenic inflammatory milieu, characterized by high levels of C-reactive protein and other inflammatory markers (e.g., fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, cytokines, and adhesion molecules). High levels of these biomarkers correlate with an increased incidence of diabetes and CVD. Recent evidence suggests that patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease have an increased incidence of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance and/or type 2 diabetes. Relatively small reductions in body weight may significantly reduce abdominal adipose tissue, reduce insulin resistance, lower triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, reduce inflammation, and decrease overall cardiometabolic risk.
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PMID:Abdominal adiposity and cardiometabolic risk: do we have all the answers? 1772 Mar 54

Epidemiological studies in both humans and experimental animals have shown an association between visceral obesity and cardiovascular risk factors such as dyslipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of diazoxide, an inhibitor of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, on the prevention of fat deposition in the liver and in the abdominal cavity of prediabetic rats. Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, which are a well-established animal model of human obesity, were used. Diazoxide (25 mg/kg/day) was administered from 8 to 30 weeks of age. Various fat distribution parameters, including computerized tomography imaging, histopathological examination, lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance, were determined in prediabetic OLETF rats. Occurrences of abdominal adiposity and fatty liver were markedly reduced by diazoxide treatment. Diazoxide significantly lowered hyperinsulinemia, triglycerides, free fatty acid levels, insulin resistance, weight gain, and food intake. In addition, it inhibited the development of diabetes in these animals. Linear regression assay demonstrated a close correlation between decreasing hyperinsulinemia and the protective effects of diazoxide. The present study demonstrates that diazoxide treatment in obese OLETF rats at prediabetic stage prevents abdominal obesity and fat deposition in the liver. These metabolic changes may occur through a direct effect on beta-cells through reduction of their workload and suppression of insulin secretion.
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PMID:Diazoxide prevents abdominal adiposity and fatty liver in obese OLETF rats at prediabetic stage. 1819 Oct 77

The metabolic syndrome consists of a constellation of co-associated metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension and visceral obesity. For many years endocrinologists have noted the striking resemblance between this disease state and that associated with Cushing's syndrome. However, in the metabolic syndrome plasma cortisol levels tend to be normal or lower than in normal individuals. Nevertheless there is strong evidence that glucocorticoid action underlies metabolic disease, largely from rodent obesity models where removing glucocorticoids reverses obesity and its metabolic abnormalities. The apparent paradox of similar metabolic defects - despite the opposing plasma glucocorticoid profiles of Cushing's and idiopathic metabolic syndrome - remained intriguing until the discovery that intracellular glucocorticoid reactivation was elevated in adipose tissue of obese rodents and humans. The enzyme that mediates this activation, conversion of cortisone (11-dehydrocorticosterone in rodents) to cortisol (corticosterone in rodents), locally within tissues is 11beta -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta -HSD1). In order to determine whether elevated tissue 11beta -HSD1 contributed to obesity and metabolic disease, transgenic mice overexpressing 11beta -HSD1 in adipose tissue or liver were made. Adipose-selective 11beta -HSD1 transgenic mice exhibited elevated intra-adipose and portal, but not systemic corticosterone levels, abdominal obesity, hyperglycaemia, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and hypertension. In contrast, transgenic overexpression of 11beta -HSD1 in liver yielded an attenuated metabolic syndrome with mild insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia, hypertension and fatty liver, but not obesity or glucose intolerance. Together with early data using non-selective 11beta -HSD1 inhibitors to insulin sensitise humans, this corroborated the notion that the enzyme may be a good therapeutic target in the treatment of the metabolic syndrome. Further, a transgenic model of therapeutic 11beta -HSD1 inhibition, 11beta -HSD1 gene knock-out (11beta -HSD1-/-) mice, exhibited improved glucose tolerance, a 'cardioprotective' lipid profile, reduced weight gain and visceral fat accumulation with chronic high-fat feeding. Recent evidence further suggests that high fat-mediated downregulation of adipose 11beta -HSD1 may be an endogenous pathway that underpins adaptive disease resistance in genetically predisposed mouse strains. This mechanism could feasibly make up a genetic component of innate obesity resistance in humans. The efficacy of 11beta -HSD1 inhibitors has recently been extended to include increased energy expenditure and reduction of arteriosclerosis, and therefore may be of significant therapeutic value in the metabolic syndrome, with complementary effects upon liver adipose tissue, muscle, pancreas and plaque-prone vessels.
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PMID:11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 and obesity. 1823 Sep 1

Abdominal obesity is often associated with a constellation of comorbidities that include central adiposity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Clinical evaluations should include a measurement of waist circumference, which is a good marker of abdominal obesity. Abdominal obesity is closely associated with an elevated outflow of free fatty acids from the visceral fat compartment and dysregulation of adipokine expression, accompanied by increased inflammation. The most serious consequences of abdominal obesity are coronary heart disease and stroke. It is also associated, however, with polycystic ovary syndrome and hepatic steatosis. Weight reduction and increased physical activity should be recommended to patients with a high waist circumference. Patients with abdominal obesity and other classic risk factors are at high cardiovascular risk and require strict monitoring of their blood pressure, LDL-c, and blood glucose. New pharmacological strategies might help manage both abdominal obesity and its metabolic consequences.
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PMID:[Abdominal obesity: a health threat]. 1841 15


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