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  • Original Article
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Body composition, energy expenditure and physical activity

Storage capacity of subcutaneous fat in Japanese adults

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 933–938 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background:

On the basis of our previous study, which examined the nonlinear relationship between visceral fat area (VFA) and percent regional fat mass in the trunk, we hypothesise the presence of some storage capacity of subcutaneous fat. This study aimed to examine the storage capacity of subcutaneous fat on the basis of subcutaneous fat area (SFA) and VFA in 791 Japanese adult males and 563 females.

Methods:

Regression analyses by using SFA as a dependent variable and VFA as an independent variable were performed for each group classified by visceral fat obesity (VO): VO (VFA ⩾100 cm2) and the no-VO (NVO) groups. To statistically identify an optimal critical point for subcutaneous fat accumulation, we changed the cutoff point for the VO group from 50–150 cm2 in 10-cm2 increments and confirmed the significance of the correlation between SFA and VFA for each obesity group, the statistical difference in correlations between NVO and VO groups, and the goodness of fit for the two regression lines using the standard error of estimation values. These analyses were conducted for each sex and age (<65 and ⩾65 years) group.

Results:

The critical point for subcutaneous fat accumulation appears at the following cutoff points of VFA: 130 cm2 in <65-year-old males, 110 cm2 in ⩾65-year-old males and 100 cm2 in both female groups.

Conclusions:

These results suggest the presence of some storage capacity of subcutaneous fat. As a further application, these findings may serve to improve the risk assessment of obesity-related diseases.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 23700847 and by Warani Medical Corporation, Hoju Memorial Hospital (Midorigaoka, Nomi, Ishikawa, Japan, URL http://www.houju.or.jp). The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.jp) for the English language review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Nonoichi, Ishikawa, Japan

    S Sato

  2. Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan

    S Demura

  3. Houju Memorial Hospital, Warani Medical Corporation, Nomi, Ishikawa, Japan

    M Nakai

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  1. S Sato
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  2. S Demura
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  3. M Nakai
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Correspondence to S Sato.

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Sato, S., Demura, S. & Nakai, M. Storage capacity of subcutaneous fat in Japanese adults. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 933–938 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.292

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