How Does Belly Fat Affect Metabolic Disease?

As part of the TwinsUK study, the body changes when belly fat is increased, providing new insights into the causes of metabolic disease

Researchers from King's College London have studied how epigenetic marks in adipose tissue, which measure how the body reads DNA to influence the way genes work, change when abdominal fat accumulates

Using samples from 538 TwinsUK participants, combining genetic, gene function, diet and health data, the researchers examined epigenetic marks across the genome, a complete collection of a person's genetic material

One of these genes has been detected with epigenetic alterations and is thought to be a possible way that diet may influence abdominal fat accumulation, and there are other epigenetic markers that can translate the effects of genetic risk on metabolic health

Dr Bell, Reader in Epigenomics in the School of Life Lessons and Population Sciences, said: "With obesity rates rising rapidly globally, it is important that we understand how elevated body fat affects us at the molecular level and how it translates into metabolism disease risk

Metabolic diseases — the most common of which is diabetes — disrupt normal metabolism, or the process of turning food into energy, at the cellular level

While previous studies in this field have used body mass index (BMI) to explore the role of epigenetic markers in overall obesity, it is well known that abdominal fat accumulation deep in the abdomen is a greater risk factor for metabolic disease than BMI alone.

Dr Bell added: "Our study brings us one step closer to this goal by identifying epigenetic signatures of excess abdominal fat, understanding its genetic and dietary triggers, and characterizing its functional impact and clinical consequences on insulin resistance.

Based on the results of this study, the researchers also developed epigenetic predictors of insulin resistance, linking their findings to the clinical consequences of increased abdominal fat

"It's exciting that when we combine many different levels of biological information, we can begin to unravel the mechanisms that drive the health state of our organisms," said Colette Christiansen, a doctoral researcher in the School of Life Courses and Population Sciences

Reference: Adipose methylome integrative-omic analyses reveal genetic and dietary metabolic health drivers and insulin resistance classifiers