DXA-Determined Visceral Adipose Tissue Is Associated with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Even in Healthy Young Adults from the Nutritionists’ Health Study—NutriHS

Background: Association of excessive visceral adipose tissue(VAT) with cardiometabolic risk in middle-aged adults has been recognized. VAT determined by dual-x-ray absorptiometry(DXA) is an accurate measurement but its usefulness for early detection of cardiovascular risk at a younger age is less investigated. The NutriHS has examined several cardiometabolic markers in undergraduates and graduates from Nutrition courses in Brazil.

Aim: To evaluate whether DXA-VAT is associated with cardiometabolic markers in young adults with a normal cardiovascular risk profile.

Methods: In this cross-sectional analysis, 177 NutriHS participants(90% women, 70% Caucasians) underwent clinical examination, body composition(iDXALunarGE®) and blood sampling. Associations of DXA-VAT(exposure) with blood pressure(BP), waist and neck circumferences(WC and NC), BMI, triglycerides(TG), HDL-c, non-HDL-c, uric acid, fasting glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR and inflammatory biomarkers(outcomes) were tested by multiple linear regression, adjusted according to the directed acyclic graphs.

Results: Mean values of age, BMI and FG were 25.8±8.0years, 23.5±4.3kg/m² and 83±9mg/dL, respectively. DXA-VATs were 693.6±640.3g for men and 235.7±322.6g for women. In regression models, DXA-VAT was directly associated with NC(r² 0.62, p<0.001), non-HDL-c(r² 0.21, p=0.022), TG(r² 0.39, p<0.001), uric acid(r² 0.34, p<0.001), E-selectin(r² 0.11; p=0.004), leptin(r² 0.10, p=0.006), insulin(r² 0.26; p=0.029) and HOMA-IR(r² 0.27; p=0.024), and inversely with HDL-c(r² 0.22, p=0.039) after adjustments, but not with BP, FG, interleukins and TNF-a.

Conclusion: Such associations of DXA-VAT with traditional and novel risk markers suggest that this method may be useful to identify those at an increased risk even in a selected sample of low-risk healthy individuals. Our follow-up is necessary to confirm the hypothesis raised in this study.