Abildgaard J, et al. - Authors assessed the lipid deposition in liver and skeletal muscle and examined the relationship with insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal and premenopausal women. There was an observed increase in ectopic lipid deposition and insulin resistance in postmenopausal women vs premenopausal women for a given subcutaneous and visceral fat depot size. Findings indicated that lipid deposition in liver and skeletal muscle may denote important mechanistic links between the changes in fat deposits and the increased incidence of insulin resistance observed postmenopause.

Methods

• Researcher conducted a single-center cross-sectional study of 55 healthy women between 45 and 60 years of age.
• They measured the lipid deposition in the liver with magnetic resonance spectroscopy, intramuscular and intra-abdominal lipid deposition with magnetic resonance imaging, body composition with a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan, and insulin sensitivity with the composite Matsuda Index.
• They studied the correlation between fat distribution, ectopic lipid deposition, and insulin sensitivity in pre- and postmenopausal women.

Results

• Findings suggested that postmenopausal women had an increased lipid deposition in the liver (0.68% [0.44 to 0.99] vs 0.49% [0.38 to 0.64]; P=0.01) and skeletal muscle (3% [2 to 4] vs 2% [1 to 3]; P=0.001), and had a 28% lower Matsuda insulin sensitivity index during an oral glucose tolerance test (6.31±3.48 vs 8.78±4.67; P=0.05) vs premenopausal women.
• In postmenopausal women vs premenopausal women, stronger predictors of ectopic lipid deposition were total fat mass and leg fat mass, and a stronger predictor of both ectopic lipid deposition and insulin resistance was visceral fat mass.