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Body fat distribution of overweight females with a history of weight cycling

International Journal of Obesity volume 28, pages 1143–1148 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Weight cycling may cause a redistribution of body fat to the upper body fat compartments. We investigated the distribution of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) in 30 overweight women with a history of weight-cycling and age-matched controls (167 normal weight and 97 overweight subjects). Measurements of SAT were performed using an optical device, the Lipometer. The SAT topography describes the thicknesses of SAT layers at 15 anatomically well-defined body sites from neck to calf. The overweight women with a history of weight cycling had significantly thicker SAT layers on the upper body compared to the overweight controls, but even thinner SAT layers on their legs than the normal weight women. An android fat pattern was attributed to overweight females and, even more pronounced, to the weight cyclers. The majority of normal weight women showed a gynoid fat pattern. Using stepwise discriminant analysis, 89.0% of all weight cyclers and overweight controls could be classified correctly into the two groups. These findings show the importance of normal weight maintenance as a health-promoting factor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine/Nutrition Unit, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    S J Wallner, W J Schnedl & T Lahousen

  2. Institute of Zoology, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    N Luschnigg & K Crailsheim

  3. Institute of Sport Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    K Sudi

  4. Institute of Medical Chemistry and Pregl Laboratory, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    R Möller, E Tafeit & R Horejsi

Authors
  1. S J Wallner
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  2. N Luschnigg
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  4. T Lahousen
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  5. K Sudi
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  6. K Crailsheim
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  7. R Möller
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  8. E Tafeit
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  9. R Horejsi
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Correspondence to R Horejsi.

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Wallner, S., Luschnigg, N., Schnedl, W. et al. Body fat distribution of overweight females with a history of weight cycling. Int J Obes 28, 1143–1148 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802736

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802736

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