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Brown fat could lessen risk for diabetes among South Asian men
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Healthy and lean South Asian men had lower brown adipose tissue volumes and resting energy expenditures compared with white patients, according to data published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
“Because brown adipose tissue (BAT) is involved in total energy expenditure and clearance of serum triglycerides and glucose, we postulated that a low BAT volume or activity might underlie the disadvantages metabolic phenotype and susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in south Asians,” Leontine E.H. Bakker, MD, of the department of endocrinology and metabolic diseases at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote.
They included healthy, lean Dutch nationals with South Asian ancestry (12 men, aged 18-28 years) and matched them with white patients (n=12) at the Rijnland Hospital in Leiderdorp, Netherlands.
South Asian patients did not differ in age (23.6 years vs. 24.6 years) or BMI (21.5 vs. 22) compared with white patients. However, South Asians tended to be shorter in stature (1.74 m vs. 1.85 m) and had a lower body weight (65 kg vs. 75.1 kg) compared with white patients.
Data indicate thermoneutral resting energy expenditure was 1,297 kcal per day in South Asian patients compared with 1,689 kcal per day in whites (difference: –32%; P=.0008).
Upon cold exposure, the shiver temperature of South Asians was 2°C greater than whites (P=.0067) and non-shivering thermogenesis was increased by 20% among whites (P<.0001), but was not increased in South Asians, researchers wrote.
The total BAT volume was lower in South Asians (188 mL) compared with whites (287 mL; difference: –34%; P=.04), according to data.
“In our study, healthy lean south Asian men had lower BAT volumes and resting energy expenditures than did matched white Caucasians. This distinction might underlie the high susceptibility of south Asians to develop metabolic disturbances such as obesity and type 2 diabetes,” Bakker and colleagues wrote. “These findings are clinically relevant because no treatment at present can diminish the disadvantageous metabolic phenotype and consequent development of metabolic disease in south Asians; targeting BAT might be a particularly promising approach for this population.”
In an accompanying editorial, Michael E. Symonds, MD, of the division of child health, obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Nottingham, Queen’s Medical Centre in the United Kingdom, wrote that the ability to directly assess BAT volume and function is restricted to small studies of healthy volunteers who are willing to be subjected to a substantial amount of radiation exposure and undergo PET CT imaging under thermoneutral and cold ambient conditions.
“In The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Bakker and colleagues present an elegant example of such a study,” Symonds wrote. “Several important questions arise from this study, including what is the exact difference in molecular composition of BAT between these ethnic groups and when these effects first become apparent.”
For more information:
Bakker LEH. Lancet. 2013;doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(13)70156-6.
Symonds ME. Lancet. 2013;doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(13)70177-3.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.