Determinants of postprandial lipemia in obese women

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the effects of fasting lipids, age, apolipoprotein ( apo) E polymorphism, insulin resistance, body fat and abdominal fat distrib ution, on postprandial lipemia (PPL) in non-diabetic obese women. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, prospective. SUBJECTS: A total of 93 obese women (mean+/-s.d. age 39+/-13y; body mass in dex (BMI) 38.3+/-4.9 kg/m(2)) and 16 nonobese women (25+/-8 y; BMI 22.7+/-3 .2 kg/m(2)). MEASUREMENTS: Body fat distribution was determined by the ratio of waist-to -hip circumferences (WHR) and by computed tomography (CT) at the L4-L5 leve l. Apo E genotyping was performed by restriction isotyping. Insulin resista nce was calculated from fasting glucose and insulin concentrations. PPL was evaluated using the vitamin A-fat tolerance test (1.0 g fat/kg body weight and 7.0 mg cholesterol/kg body weight+300000 lU vitamin A palmitate). Bloo d samples were drawn before, and every 1.5 h for 7.5 h plus 24 h after inge stion of the fat meal. Areas under the response curves (AUC) for triglyceri des (TG) and retinyI palmitate (RP) were calculated using the geometrical m ethod for two time intervals, that is, 0-7.5 h and 0-24 h. RESULTS: Incremental AUCs TG, but not AUCs RP, were increased in the obese women. Apo E polymorphism, BMI, WHR and menopausal state did not influence PPL in the obese women. Easting TG, age, the intra-abdominal to subcutaneou s abdominal fat ratio (IA/SC ratio) and insulin resistance were independent determinants of PPL. Together, fasting TG, IA/SC ratio and insulin resista nce, explained 38% of the variance in AUC TG 0-7.5 h (P = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Alterations in PPL are to be added to the increasing number of components of the plurimetabolic syndrome.