Summary: According to a new study, genetic factors heavily influence where we are most likely to store fat on our bodies. Researchers found the relationship between genetics and fat storage is more significant in women than in men.
Source: Uppsala University.
A recent study from Uppsala University has found that whether you store your fat around the trunk or in other parts of your body is highly influenced by genetic factors and that this effect is present predominantly in women and to a much lower extent in men. In the study, which is published in Nature Communications, the researchers measured how fat was distributed in nearly 360,000 voluntary participants.
“We know that women and men tend to store fat differently – women have the ability to more easily store fat on the hips and legs, while men tend to accumulate fat around the abdomen to a higher extent,” says lead author Mathias Rask-Andersen, Ph.D. and postdoctoral researcher at the department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University. “This has been attributed to the effects of sex hormones such as estrogen. But the molecular mechanisms that control this phenomenon are fairly unknown.”
The researchers used data from UK Biobank, which is a cohort study of half a million participants in the UK. The participants gave blood samples for genotyping and the distribution of fat tissue was estimated using impedance measurements, i.e. measurements of electrical resistance when an electrical current is fed through the body. In the current study, millions of genetic variants across the genome were tested for association with distribution of fat to the arms, legs or trunk, and the research team identified nearly a hundred genes that affect distribution of adipose tissue to the different compartments of the human body. The researchers also saw a high degree of heterogeneity between sexes.
“We were struck by the large number of genetic effects that were stronger, or only present, in females. Upon closer examination, several of the associated genes were found to encode proteins that actively shape the extracellular matrix, which makes up the supporting structure around cells,” says the group leader docent Åsa Johansson. The findings suggest that remodeling of the extracellular matrix is one of the mechanisms that generates differences in body fat distribution.
Fat stored in the trunk has previously been associated with increased disease risk. Men have a greater amount of abdominal fat than women and this may explain the increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease observed in males. Epidemiological studies have even shown that the ability to store fat around hips and legs gives women some protection against cardiovascular disease. The result of the current study may therefore lead to the development of new interventions to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
“The biological systems we highlight in our study have the potential to be used as points-of-intervention for new drugs that are aimed at improving the distribution of body fat and thereby reducing the risk of disease,” says Mathias Rask-Andersen.
Source: Mathias Rask-Andersen – Uppsala University
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Original Research: Open access research for “Genome-wide association study of body fat distribution identifies adiposity loci and sex-specific genetic effects” by Mathias Rask-Andersen, Torgny Karlsson, Weronica E. Ek & Åsa Johansson in Nature Communications. Published January 21 2019.
doi:10.1038/s41467-018-08000-4
[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Uppsala University”Our genes Affect Where Fat is Stored on Our Bodies.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 21 January 2019.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/genetics-fat-storage-10601/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Uppsala University(2019, January 21). Our genes Affect Where Fat is Stored on Our Bodies. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved January 21, 2019 from https://neurosciencenews.com/genetics-fat-storage-10601/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Uppsala University”Our genes Affect Where Fat is Stored on Our Bodies.” https://neurosciencenews.com/genetics-fat-storage-10601/ (accessed January 21, 2019).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]
Abstract
Genome-wide association study of body fat distribution identifies adiposity loci and sex-specific genetic effects
Body mass and body fat composition are of clinical interest due to their links to cardiovascular- and metabolic diseases. Fat stored in the trunk has been suggested to be more pathogenic compared to fat stored in other compartments. In this study, we perform genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for the proportion of body fat distributed to the arms, legs and trunk estimated from segmental bio-electrical impedance analysis (sBIA) for 362,499 individuals from the UK Biobank. 98 independent associations with body fat distribution are identified, 29 that have not previously been associated with anthropometric traits. A high degree of sex-heterogeneity is observed and the effects of 37 associated variants are stronger in females compared to males. Our findings also implicate that body fat distribution in females involves mesenchyme derived tissues and cell types, female endocrine tissues as well as extracellular matrix maintenance and remodeling.
