Associations of lower-body fat mass with favorable profile of lipoproteins and adipokines in healthy,slim women in early adulthood

Aim: we determined the association of lower-body fat mass (lfm) and trunk fat mass (tfm) with cardiometabolic risk factors and adipokines in young,healthy,slim women. methods: a total of 481 college female students underwent the following: regional body fat distribution as assessed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (dxa),a 75g oral glucose tolerance test (ogtt) and fasting blood sampling for measurement of lipids,lipoproteins,apolipoproteins (apo),liver enzymes and adipokines. results: after adjusting for tfm,lfm was positively associated with hdl cholesterol,adiponectin,pre-heparin lipoprotein lipase and insulin sensitivity,as estimated by the matsuda index,whereas it was negatively related to triglycerides,apo b,apo b/a1 ratio,small dense ldl,ffa,glucose and insulin at 2h during ogtt,area under the curve of insulin response during ogtt and the white blood cell count. participants were divided into 9 groups according to tertiles of tfm and lfm. in the middle tertile of tfm,hdl cholesterol and adiponectin increased and triglycerides,apob/a1 ratio and plasminogen-activator inhibitor-1 decreased from the low to high lfm tertiles. gamma-glutamyltransferase levels in middle and high lfm tertiles were lower than in the lower lfm tertile. conclusion: for a given level of trunk fat mass,a higher lower-body fat mass is associated with an advantageous profile of not only blood lipoproteins but also serum adipokines,even in healthy,slim women in early adulthood.