Neeland IJ, et al. – In this study involving a multiethnic cohort, researchers tested the premise that plasma ceramides would be related to body fat distribution, insulin resistance, and incident type 2 diabetes. For this investigation, researchers analyzed measurements of metabolic biomarkers, fat depots by MRI, and plasma ceramides by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in 1,557 participants in the Dallas Heart Study without type 2 diabetes. Findings suggested that visceral adipose tissue was positively correlated with saturated fatty acid ceramides and inversely related to polyunsaturated fatty acid ceramides after adjusting for clinical characteristics and total body fat. No association was found between plasma ceramides and incident diabetes outcomes after accounting for clinical factors. It was noted that HOMA-IR was positively related to saturated and inversely with polyunsaturated ceramides. The data presented in this work showed a biologically complex relationship of metabolic and imaging indicators of dysfunctional adiposity with plasma ceramide.