Emerging paradigms for understanding fatness and diabetes risk
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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Study of In Vivo Glucose Metabolism in High-fat Diet-fed Mice Using Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) and Insulin Tolerance Test (ITT)
Published on: January 7, 2018
Steven R Smith1, Eric Ravussin
1Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4124, USA. smithsr@pbrc.edu
Abstract:
It is widely accepted that increasing adiposity is associated with insulin resistance and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. The predominant paradigm used to explain this link is the portal/visceral hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes that increased adiposity, particularly in the visceral depots, leads to increased free fatty acid flux and inhibition of insulin action via Randle's effect in insulin-sensitive tissues. Recent data do not entirely support this hypothesis. As such, two new paradigms have emerged that may explain the established links between adiposity and disease.
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