S. Guven et al., Plasma leptin and insulin levels in weight-reduced obese women with normalbody mass index - Relationships with body composition and insulin, DIABETES, 48(2), 1999, pp. 347-352
Obesity is a complex disease with multiple features that has confounded eff
orts to unravel its pathophysiology. As a means of distinguishing primary f
rom secondary characteristics, we compared levels of fasting plasma leptin
and insulin in a cohort of weight-reduced obese women who have attained and
maintained a normal BMI for more than 1 year with the levels in cohorts of
never-obese and currently obese women. Weight-reduced obese women showed d
ecreased plasma concentrations of leptin and insulin compared with obese wo
men, but these levels remained significantly higher than those of never-obe
se women. Plasma leptin levels were highly correlated with plasma insulin l
evels (r = 0.80, P < 0.001). To further explore relationships with body com
position, total body fat was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry
and body fat distribution by computed tomography in subsets of these group
s. Weight-reduced obese women had a significantly greater percent body fat
and subcutaneous abdominal fat mass than did the never-obese women, and the
se were highly correlated with plasma leptin (r = 0.90, P < 0.001, and r =
0.52, P < 0.001, respectively). In these weight-reduced obese women, viscer
al fat mass was similar to that of the never-obese. The insulin sensitivity
index and first-phase insulin response were also comparable. These results
demonstrate that higher leptin levels in weight-reduced obese women are re
lated to the higher total fat and particularly the subcutaneous fat masses.
Normalization of visceral fat mass in the weight-reduced obese was accompa
nied by normalization of insulin sensitivity index and first-phase insulin
response. This study suggests that increases in plasma leptin and insulin i
n obesity are secondary features of the obese state.