Quantifying the 'appleness' or 'pearness' of the human body by subcutaneous adipose tissue distribution

To quantify subcutaneous adipose tissue topography (SAT-Top) describing ind ividual SAT distribution for a subject or even a group we measured subcutan eous adipose tissue thickness at 15 specified body sites of 303 healthy wom en aged 20-69 yrs and 20 women with proven non-insulin-dependent diabetes m ellitus (NIDDM) by the optical device 'LIPOMETER'. The type of upper-body- and lower-body-fat pattern, (apples or pears), was determined by factor ana lysis of the data. Upper body sites were highly loaded in factor 1, whereas Factor 2 included highly loaded body sites from the lower extremities. For an individual, factor 1 scores > factor 2 scores, was described as an 'app le'-type, while Factor 2 > Factor 1 was described as a 'pear'-type. We foun d about 80% 'pears' and 20% 'apples' in 20-29 year olds and 20% 'pears' and 80% 'apples' in 60-69 year old women, Women with NIDDM tended to be 'super -apples'. SAT-Top provides a useful differentiation between apples and pear s and we recommend this approach as a screening method.