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Objective: Whether leptin and adiponectin are independently associated with regional body fat distribution was investigated in a prospective study of Japanese Americans. Methods: Nondiabetic participants 39 to 79 years of age were followed for 5 years to assess change in body composition. Leptin and adiponectin concentrations were evaluated at baseline and by single‐slice computed tomography measurements of intra‐abdominal fat (IAF), abdominal subcutaneous fat (SCF), and thigh SCF cross‐sectional areas at baseline and at 5 years. Results: Ninety‐six men and ninety‐five women without diabetes had the following baseline mean (SD) values: age 45.7 (3.5) years and 46.4 (3.9) years, IAF 78.7 (38.6) cm2 and 62.1 (39.0) cm2, leptin concentration 4.5 (2.3) μg/L and 10.2 (5.2) μg/L, and adiponectin concentration 7.4 (3.2) μg/mL and 10.8 (4.7) μg/mL, respectively. Baseline leptin (β = 1.7722, P = 0.014) and adiponectin concentrations (β = −0.4162, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with IAF change over 5 years in multivariable models adjusting for age, sex, diabetes family history, weight change over 5 years, and baseline measurements of BMI, IAF, abdominal SCF, waist circumference, thigh fat, and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance. Conclusions: In nondiabetic Japanese Americans, a higher concentration of leptin was associated with greater accumulation of IAF and a higher concentration of adiponectin with lesser accumulation of IAF over 5 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Ageing in male adults is typically accompanied by adiposity accumulation and changes in circulating sex hormone concentrations. We hypothesized that an ageing‐associated increase in oestrogens and decrease in androgens would correlate with an increase in adiposity. Design: 10‐year prospective, observational study. Study subjects: A total of 190, community‐dwelling men in the Japanese American Community Diabetes Study. Measurements: At 0 and 10 years, CT scanning quantified intra‐abdominal fat (IAF) and subcutaneous fat (SCF) areas while plasma concentrations of oestradiol, oestrone, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone were measured by liquid chromatography‐tandem‐mass spectrometry at each time point. Multivariate linear regression analyses assessed correlations between 10‐year changes in hormone concentrations and IAF or SCF, adjusting for age and baseline fat depot area. Results: Participants were middle‐aged [median 54.8 years, interquartile range (IQR) 39.9‐62.8] men and mostly overweight by Asian criterion (median BMI 24.9, IQR 23.3‐27.1) and with few exceptions had normal sex‐steroid concentrations. Median oestradiol and dihydrotestosterone did not change significantly between 0 and 10 years (P =.084 and P =.596, respectively) while median oestrone increased (P <.001) and testosterone decreased (P <.001). Median IAF and SCF increased from 0 to 10 years (both P <.001). In multivariate analyses, change in oestrone positively correlated (P =.019) while change in testosterone (P =.003) and dihydrotestosterone (P =.014) negatively correlated with change in IAF. Plasma oestradiol and oestrone positively correlated with change in SCF (P =.041 and P =.030, respectively) while testosterone (P =.031) negatively correlated in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Among 190 community‐dwelling, Japanese American men, increases in IAF were associated with decreases in plasma androgens and increases in plasma oestrone, but not oestradiol, at 10 years. Further research is necessary to understand whether changing hormone concentrations are causally related to changes in regional adiposity or whether the reverse is true. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant Japanese populations in both the USA and Brazil have for a long time shown a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes than native Japanese, suggesting an interaction of lifestyle and genetic predisposition in the etiology of type 2 diabetes. The overall objective of the Seattle Japanese American Community Diabetes Study was to learn more about the etiology and pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes in Japanese Americans. This metabolically based epidemiological study included extensive assessments of insulin sensitivity, insulin response, and adiposity with the latter including measurements of body fat distribution by both anthropometry and computed tomography. Because of this, the importance of visceral adiposity as a risk factor for abnormal glucose tolerance, hypertension, coronary heart disease and the metabolic syndrome was shown. In conjunction with an examination of diet and physical activity patterns, the result was a clearer understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes in Japanese Americans. We propose that a lifestyle that fosters increased weight gain, especially in the visceral adipose depot, promotes the development of insulin resistance, which in turn exposes an underlying reduced β-cell reserve in susceptible individuals, resulting in glucose intolerance and, eventually in many, the development of diabetes. We have shown that it might be possible to delay or prevent the development of diabetes through dietary and exercise interventions in individuals identified as having impaired glucose tolerance. The lessons learned from studying migrant Japanese in Seattle might in many ways be applicable to other populations of Asian origin. (J Diabetes Invest, doi: 10.1111/j.2040-1124.2012.00195.x, 2012) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Low birth weight, a proxy for fetal underdevelopment, is associated with increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes during adulthood. Low birth weight is also associated with central obesity, but little is known about the association between birth weight and visceral adiposity. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that lower birth weight is associated with increased amounts of visceral fat in middle-age adults.Research Methods and Procedures: This is an observational study of 91 adults (58 men and 33 women) 40+/-6 years of age (mean+/-standard deviation). Ethnicity was either Japanese American (79%) or non-Hispanic white (21%). Birth weight was obtained from State Departments of Health. Measurements included smoking status, BMI, and visceral (intra-abdominal) fat measured by computed tomography.Results: Visceral fat was not associated with birth weight after adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, BMI, or smoking status (p=0.76). There was no evidence that the association between birth weight and visceral fat varied by age, sex, or ethnicity.Discussion: We found no evidence that low birth weight is associated with increased visceral fat in middle-age adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinship systems which tend to be based on ecologies of subsistence also assign differential power, privilege, and control to human connections that present pathways for manipulation of resource access and transfer. They can be used in this way to channel resource concentrations in women and hence their reproductive value. Thus, strategic female life course trade-offs and their timing are likely to be responsive to changing preferences for qualities in women as economic conditions change. Female life histories are studied in two ethnic groups with differing kinship systems in NE India where the competitive market economy is now being felt by most households. Patrilineal Bengali (599 women) practice patrilocal residence with village exogamy and matrilineal Khasi (656 women) follow matrilocal residence with village endogamy, both also normatively preferring three-generation extended households. These households have helpful senior women and significantly greater income. Age at first reproduction (AFR), achieved adult growth (height) and educational level (greater than 6 years or less) are examined in reproductive women, ages 16-50. In both groups, women residing normatively are older at AFR and taller than women residing nonnormatively. More education is also associated with senior women. Thus, normative residence may place a woman in the best reproductive location, and those with higher reproductive and productive potential are often chosen as households face competitive market conditions. In both groups residing in favorable reproductive locations is associated with a faster pace of fertility among women, as well as lower offspring mortality among Khasi, to compensate for a later start., (2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)