Regional body composition changes exhibit opposing effects on coronary heart disease risk factors

We investigated how regional body composition measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is associated with risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) during weight reduction in obese women.

Data were gathered from 128 overweight and obese women, aged 34 to 66 years, during a 14-week intervention study with diet and exercise. Regional (arms, legs, and trunk) fat tissue (FT) and lean soft tissue (LST) were measured by DXA. The FT change in legs correlated negatively with changes in diastolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and the number of CHD risk factors per subject (r=-0.17, P<0.05 to -0.26, P<0.01) in response to weight reduction, whereas truncal FT change had positive correlations with changes in triglycerides, LDL-C, FPG, and the number of CHD risk factors per subject (r=0.17, P<0.05 to 0.25, P<0.01). LST change in legs correlated negatively with changes in systolic blood pressure, FPG, and the number of risk factors (r=-0.20 to -0.21, P<0.05).

Regional body composition information is important for evaluating improvement of CHD risk factors during weight-reduction treatment for obesity; differential FTs had opposing effects on CHD risk factors during weight reduction in obese women.