Association of abdominal adiposity and circulating appetitive hormones in healthy premenopausal women

The interrelation between appetitive hormones and overall adiposity is not well established in young healthy premenopausal women. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between total and abdominal adiposity and circulating appetitive hormones. Women in Steady Exercise Research is an ongoing randomized controlled trial assessing the effects of exercise training on oxidative stress status and metabolic factors related to breast cancer risk. In this cross-sectional study, we studied 160 premenopausal women enrolled in the WISER study (BMI = 24.2 +/- 4.5 kg/m2, age = 25.3 +/- 3.4 years). Body composition (fat and lean mass) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Regression analyses indicated that 52% of the variability in leptin (F=55.8, p<0.0001) was explained by total fat mass (46%), insulin (16%), and total body lean mass (2.4%). Seventeen percent of the variability in insulin (F=10.76, p<0.0001) was accounted for by androidal to gynoidal fat mass ratio (10.5%), total body lean mass (7%), and glucose (4.7%). Androidal to gynoidal fat mass ratio explained 21% of the variability in adiponectin whereas glucose accounted for 8% of the variability in ghrelin. These data suggest that, in premenopausal women, androidal to gynoidal fat mass ratio as the abdominal adiposity index is a significant determinant of serum adiponectin and insulin levels. This study was supported by NIH.