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

To quantify subcutaneous adipose tissue topography (SAT-Top) describing individual SAT distribution for a subject or even a group we measured subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness at 15 specified body sites of 303 healthy women aged 20-69 yrs and 20 women with proven non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) by the optical device 'LIPOMETER'. The type of upper-body- and lower-body-fat pattern, (apples or pears), was determined by factor analysis 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 'apple'-type, while factor 2 > factor 1 was described as a 'pear'-type. We found 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 pears and we recommend this approach as a screening method.