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Metabolically Healthy Obesity—Does it Exist?

  • Nutrition (JP Foreyt, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The prevalence of obesity has been increasing worldwide over the past 30 years and is a major public health concern. Obesity is known to be associated with metabolic disturbances including insulin resistance and inflammation; however, there is a subset of obese subjects who have normal metabolic profiles, and they have been identified as the metabolically healthy obese (MHO). Several studies have described MHO as obese individuals who have high levels of insulin sensitivity and the absence of diabetes, dyslipidemia, or hypertension. The prevalence of MHO varies from 20 to 30 % among obese individuals. This review will discuss the MHO phenotype; the differences between MHO and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO) individuals; and the possible underlying mechanisms including adipocyte differentiation, immune regulation, and cellular energy metabolism.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Barbara S. Nikolajczyk Ph.D. for the editorial assistance.

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Conflict of Interest

Patchaya Boonchaya-anant declares no conflict of interest. Caroline M. Apovian received grants from Orexigen Therapeutics, GI Dynamics, MetaProteomics, Eli Lilly, Sanofi Aventis, Amylin, and Aspire Bariatrics and received personal fees from Orexigen Therapeutics, Johnson and Johnson, Nutrisystem, GI Dynamics, EnteroMedics, Zafgen, Arena, Merck, Sanofi Aventis, Amylin, and Atkins Foundation.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Robinson Building 4400, 88 East Newton Street, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Patchaya Boonchaya-anant & Caroline M. Apovian

  2. Endocrinology and Metabolism Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, 1873 Rama IV Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Patchaya Boonchaya-anant

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  1. Patchaya Boonchaya-anant
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Correspondence to Caroline M. Apovian.

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Boonchaya-anant, P., Apovian, C.M. Metabolically Healthy Obesity—Does it Exist?. Curr Atheroscler Rep 16, 441 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-014-0441-1

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