System Maintenance Notice

Please note that maintenance work is scheduled between 4 AM and 5 AM - CET. During this time, you may experience reduced performance. Thanks for your patience.

Publications

Journal Article Epublish

PubMed: 40535330 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1576599

Visceral adiposity loss is associated with improvement in cardiometabolic markers: findings from a dietary intervention study.

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 16:1576599

Authors: Shazana Rifham Abdullah, Ahmad Kamil Nur Zati Iwani, Liyana Ahmad Zamri, Ruziana Mona Wan Mohd Zin, Norhashimah Abu Seman, Nur Azlin Zainal Abidin, Siti Sarah Hamzah, Nur Hayati Azizul, Azahadi Omar, Zamtira Seman, Abqariyah Yahya, Mohd Fairulnizal Md Noh

Affiliations

  • Institute for Medical Research, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Selangor, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
  • Sector for Biostatistics and Data Repository, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Selangor, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
  • Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abstract

Background

Visceral adiposity is closely linked with cardiometabolic disorders, but evidence on the extent of visceral fat loss required for significant improvement in cardiometabolic markers remains limited. This study aims to investigate the association between visceral fat area (VFA) reductions and improvements in cardiometabolic markers following a 3-month dietary intervention.

Methods

A total of 175 adults with overweight and obesity were involved in this non-randomized controlled trial. Data on sociodemographic, anthropometric, body composition and biochemistry were collected at baseline and after 3 months of intervention. The multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the association between VFA loss (no loss, < 5% loss, and ≥ 5% loss) and improvement in cardiometabolic markers. For each cardiometabolic marker, an improvement surpassing the minimum threshold of the third tertile was classified as a good improvement.

Results

Compared to those with no VFA loss, participants with VFA loss of ≥ 5% were significantly associated with a higher improvement in waist circumference (OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.16-7.64), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (OR 4.19, 95% CI 1.58-11.14), triglycerides (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.14-7.92), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.12-7.79). Other than that, those with < 5% VFA loss were 3.6 times more likely to have a higher improvement in HDL-C compared to those with no VFA loss (OR 4.08, 95% CI 1.36-12.22).

Conclusion

This study found that the magnitude of VFA loss is an independent determinant of improvements in cardiometabolic markers and should be set as a clear target when designing obesity prevention programs.

MeSH

Insulin Resistance, Adiposity, Obesity, Cholesterol, Hdl, Endocrine System Diseases, Intermittent Fasting