Obesity and insulin resistance

Obesity is a problem of increasing epidemiological importance in industrialized western countries, that is linked with several metabolic disorders, especially of glucose metabolism. We have evaluated the insulin resistance and the existence of relation with overweight and markers of lipidic metabolism; for this purpose body mass index (BMI), plasma glucose and insulin at fasting (G-O' and IRI-O' respectively) have been measured together with fasting cholesterol (C), C-HDL, C-LDL and triglycerides (TG) in 27 obese female outpatients and in 18 normal age-matched women. Diabetic subjects had been previously excluded from the study. AUC-G, IRI-120' and AUC-IRI were significantly higher in obese women than in controls, C-HDL was lower, while the other lipidic parameters were similar in the two groups. BMI and IRI-O' were inversely related with C-HDL and directly with C-LDL; BMI was also directly related with IRI-O' and netAUC-IRI. In conclusion obesity causes not only glycemic impairment, but also atherogenic alterations of plasma lipidic parameters "per se" and/or through insulin-resistance; therefore it must be considered a pathologic condition or, at least, a risk factor of cardio-vascular diseases and treated with the greatest care.