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Fitness, adiposopathy, and adiposity are independent predictors of insulin sensitivity in middle-aged men without diabetes

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Abstract

Adiposopathy, or sick fat, refers to adipose tissue dysfunction that can lead to several complications such as dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia. The relative contribution of adiposopathy in predicting insulin resistance remains unclear. We investigated the relationship between adiposopathy, as assessed as a low plasma adiponectin/leptin ratio, with anthropometry, body composition (hydrostatic weighing), insulin sensitivity (hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp), inflammation, and fitness level (ergocycle VO2max, mL/kgFFM/min) in 53 men (aged 34–53 years) from four groups: sedentary controls without obesity (body mass index [BMI] <25 kg/m2), sedentary with obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2), sedentary with obesity and glucose intolerance, and endurance trained active without obesity. The adiponectin/leptin ratio was the highest in trained men (4.75 ± 0.82) and the lowest in glucose intolerant subjects with obesity (0.27 ± 0.06; ANOVA p < 0.0001) indicating increased adiposopathy in those with obesity. The ratio was negatively associated with adiposity (e.g., waist circumference, r = −0.59, p < 0.01) and positively associated with VO2max (r = 0.67, p < 0.01) and insulin sensitivity (M/I, r = 0.73, p < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis revealed fitness as the strongest independent predictor of insulin sensitivity (partial R 2 = 0.61). While adiposopathy was also an independent and significant contributor (partial R 2 = 0.10), waist circumference added little power to the model (partial R 2 = 0.024). All three variables remained significant independent predictors when trained subjects were excluded from the model. Plasma lipids were not retained in the model. We conclude that low fitness, adiposopathy, as well as adiposity (and in particular abdominal obesity) are independent contributors to insulin resistance in men without diabetes.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the study participants. We would also like to thank Guy Fournier, Jean Doré, Marc Brunet, Linda Drolet, Nancy Parent, Marie Tremblay, Rollande Couture, Valérie-Ève Julien, Rachelle Duchesne, and Ginette Lapierre for their expert technical assistance in recruiting subjects and carrying out the clinical aspects of the study. This study was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant (MOP-68846) to DRJ and from the Fondation du Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ) to DRJ and AM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

    Claire Huth, Étienne Pigeon, Marie-Ève Riou, Josée St-Onge, Hélène Arguin, Erick Couillard, Angelo Tremblay, S. John Weisnagel, Michel Lacaille, Pascale Mauriège & Denis R. Joanisse

  2. Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ), Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

    Claire Huth, Étienne Pigeon, Marie-Ève Riou, Josée St-Onge, Hélène Arguin, Erick Couillard, Marie-Julie Dubois, André Marette, Angelo Tremblay, Michel Lacaille, Pascale Mauriège & Denis R. Joanisse

  3. Department of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

    André Marette

  4. CHUL-CHU, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

    S. John Weisnagel

  5. Département de kinésiologie & CRIUCPQ, Université Laval, Pavillon PEPS, bureau 0290B, 2300 rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Denis R. Joanisse

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  1. Claire Huth
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  2. Étienne Pigeon
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  9. Angelo Tremblay
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  10. S. John Weisnagel
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  11. Michel Lacaille
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  12. Pascale Mauriège
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  13. Denis R. Joanisse
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Correspondence to Denis R. Joanisse.

Ethics declarations

The research protocol was approved by the ethics committees of Université Laval (CERUL, approval 2004–2007) and the Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ; approval 2013–2151), and all subjects provided written informed consent.

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Huth, C., Pigeon, É., Riou, MÈ. et al. Fitness, adiposopathy, and adiposity are independent predictors of insulin sensitivity in middle-aged men without diabetes. J Physiol Biochem 72, 435–444 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13105-016-0488-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13105-016-0488-2

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