Summary
Plasma glucose and insulin concentration and the ability of physiological hyperinsulinemia
to dispose of a glucose load were determined in 26 healthy, nondiabetic, Chinese females.
The study population was divided in half on the basis of two indices of obesity: 1)
body mass index (greater than or less than 25.3 kg/m2 ) and 2) ratio of waist to hip girth (greater than or less than 0.83). When these
groups were compared on the basis of the three measured variables, the results indicated
that the untoward metabolic effects of obesity were, if anything, more prominent when
subjects were divided on the basis of body mass index as compared to a division based
on the ratio of waist to hip girth. Similarly, correlation coefficients between body
mass index and plasma glucose response, plasma insulin response, and insulin-stimulated
glucose disposal were equal to or greater than the correlation coefficients between
ratio of waist to hip girth and the same three variables. These data suggest that
the impact of differences in abdominal obesity, as reflected in measurement of the
ratio of waist to hip girth, is no greater than the effect of overall obesity, as
estimated by calculation of body mass index, on plasma glucose and insulin responses
to oral glucose and insulin-stimulated glucose disposal in Chinese females who are
not massively obese.
Key words
Control Obesity - Body Mass Index - Waist to Hip Ratio - Glucose Tolerance - Insulin
Resistance
