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Clinical Research

Metabolic markers, regional adiposity, and adipose cell size: relationship to insulin resistance in African-American as compared with Caucasian women

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 1164–1173 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

African-American women have the greatest prevalence of obesity in the United States, and higher rates of type 2 diabetes than Caucasian women, yet paradoxically lower plasma triglycerides (TG), visceral fat and intrahepatic fat, and higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol. Visceral fat has not been evaluated against insulin resistance in African-American women, and TG/HDL-cholesterol has been criticized as a poor biomarker for insulin resistance in mixed-sex African-American populations. Adipocyte hypertrophy, reflecting adipocyte dysfunction, predicts insulin resistance in Caucasians, but has not been studied in African-Americans. Our goal was to assess whether traditional correlates of insulin resistance, measures of adiposity and adipocyte characteristics similarly predict peripheral insulin resistance in African-American and Caucasian women.

Subjects/methods

Thirty-four healthy African-American (n = 17) and Caucasian (n = 17) women, matched for age (mean = 53.0 yrs) and body mass index (BMI) (mean = 30 kg/m2), underwent a steady-state plasma glucose test to measure insulin sensitivity; computed tomography (fat distribution); and a periumbilical scalpel biopsy (adipocyte characterization). By-race analyzes utilized analysis of covariance; linear regressions evaluated relationships between metabolic/adipose variables. All analyses adjusted for BMI and menopausal status.

Results

Insulin sensitivity did not differ between groups (p = 0.65). Neither BMI, nor %body fat or thigh fat predicted insulin resistance in African-American women. Fasting TG (p = 0.046), HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.0006) and TG/HDL-cholesterol ratio (p = 0.009) strongly predicted insulin resistance in African-American women. Despite being lower in African-American women, hepatic fat and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) correlated with insulin resistance in both groups, as did fasting glucose, VAT/SAT (subcutaneous adipose tissue) ratio, and %SAT (inverse).

Conclusions

Total adiposity measures and adipocyte hypertrophy did not predict insulin resistance in African-American women, but did in Caucasian women. Plasma TG and HDL-cholesterol were significant predictors of insulin resistance in African-American women. Our findings demonstrate the need to identify race and sex-specific biomarkers for metabolic risk profiling.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from the American Diabetes Association (1-11-CT-35), NIH/NIDDK (1RO01 DK090436), and the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health award (K12 HD051958) funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Office of Research on Women’s Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, and that National Institute of Aging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Candice Allister-Price

  2. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Candice Allister-Price, Colleen M. Craig, Dan Spielman & Tracey L. McLaughlin

  3. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Samuel S. Cushman

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  1. Candice Allister-Price
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Correspondence to Candice Allister-Price.

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Allister-Price, C., Craig, C.M., Spielman, D. et al. Metabolic markers, regional adiposity, and adipose cell size: relationship to insulin resistance in African-American as compared with Caucasian women. Int J Obes 43, 1164–1173 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0191-1

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