relationship between visceral adiposity and plasma adiponectin concentration: effect of weight loss

background : adiponectin is an anti-inflammatory and antiatherogenic protein that has a protective effect against athero­sclero­sis and diabetes. it is exclusively secreted by adipose tissue. serum adiponectin levels are inversely associated with pa­rame­ters of overall adiposity including body mass index (bmi), fat mass, and percentage of body fat. methods : in a cross-sectional study of 76 women we sought to evaluate if adiponectin is associated primarily with central adi­pos­ity rather than overall adiposity. we also assessed adiponectin changes after weight loss in a subgroup of 42 obese sub­jects. results : waist to hip ratio (whr), an index of central obesity, was the only variable independently associated to adi­ponectin (beta= 0.25, p < 0.05). a mean increase of 8.2±24.2% in adiponectin concentration was observed in response to the dietary restriction and weight loss ( p = 0.03). our findings provide evidence for association of serum adiponectin level with visceral fat, represented by waist to hip ratio index. conclusion : moderate weight loss result in significant improvements in adiponectin concentration and provide another bio­logi­cal explanation for the beneficial effect of body weight loss on reducing cardiovascular and diabetes risks in obese pa­tients.