Browsing by Author "Ek, Viktoria"

Background: The metabolic syndrome predisposes for cardiovascular disease and is characterized by abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, hypertension and prothrombotic and proinflammatory states. All obese people do not, however, develop metabolic syndrome. Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) hypertrophy have been linked to metabolic complications in obesity. The aim in this study was to asses if high dietary fructose consumption has an impact on SAT adipocyte size and whether adipocyte size is a metabolic determinant in obese males with metabolic syndrome. Methods: To evaluate the effects of fructose, 34 obese male subjects consumed fructose-sweetened beverages containing 75 g fructose/day for 12 weeks. Subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue was obtained with needle aspiration technique and adipocyte sizes were measured under a light microscope. Changes in liver fat and cardiometabolic risk parameters were also analyzed. Results: Added dietary fructose intake for 12 weeks did not affect the SAT adipocyte size in subjects with obesity (P=0,417). Subjects showed increased levels of triglycerides (P=0,034) and increased liver fat content (P=0,011) after fructose intervention. Subgroups of subjects with large and small adipocytes (under or over the median value) responded differently to fructose consumption in respect of liver fat gain. Conclusion: SAT adipocyte size was not a major determinant of metabolic health in obese men with features of the metabolic syndrome. Added dietary fructose 75 g per day for 12 weeks did not result in changes in adipocyte size but subgroup of subjects showing decrease in adipocyte size during fructose intervention gained in liver fat. The inability of the SAT adipocytes to expand may play a role in development of the metabolic syndrome in these subjects.