Adiposity and NMR-measured lipid and metabolic biomarkers among 30,000 Mexican adults.

Obesity increases the risk of multiple diseases, in part due to alterations in how the body breaks down carbohydrates and fats, which is reflected in molecules that circulate in blood. In obesity, disease risk may vary depending on whether fat accumulates in the body overall (i.e. total adiposity), in the middle of the body (i.e. abdominal adiposity) or around the hips (i.e. gluteo-femoral adiposity). Here, we show that in a population of Mexican adults higher total and abdominal adiposity relate adversely, while higher gluteo-femoral adiposity relates favourably, to numerous molecules in blood that are linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. These findings provide insight on the processes that link the accumulation of fat across the body with disease risk in a population where obesity rates are high.