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Birth weight was associated positively with gluteofemoral fat mass and inversely with 2-h postglucose insulin concentrations, a marker of insulin resistance, in young normal-weight Japanese women

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Abstract

Introduction

We tested whether birth weight might be associated with gluteofemoral fat mass and insulin sensitivity later in life.

Materials and methods

Body size trajectory since birth, body composition at age 20, and markers of insulin resistance were measured in 316 Japanese women. A subset of 148 women underwent a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to identify most important determinants of birth weight.

Results

Birth weight was correlated positively with height and weight at age 12, 15, and 20 years (all p < 0.001 except for weight at 12 years, p = 0.03). Although it showed no correlation with BMI at age 12 and 15, it was correlated positively with current BMI (p = 0.006). It showed positive correlations with lean mass in arms, legs, trunk, and the whole body at age 20 (all p < 0.001). Additionally, it was correlated positively with leg (gluteofemoral) fat mass (p = 0.007), although there was no correlation with total body and trunk fat mass. Furthermore, weight at birth showed inverse correlations with 2-h postglucose insulin concentrations (p = 0.008) whereas it was not correlated with fasting insulin and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance. In a multiple regression analysis, which included anthropometric and biochemical variables as independent variables, appendicular muscle mass (standardized β 0.394, p < 0.001) emerged as a single determinant of birth weight (R2 = 0.15). In a model which included gluteofemoral fat mass and 2-h postglucose insulin, birth weight was associated with gluteofemoral fat mass (standardized β 0.240, p = 0.003) and 2-h postglucose insulin concentrations (standardized β − 0.217, p = 0.007) (R2 = 0.09).

Conclusions

Birth weight was associated positively with gluteofemoral fat mass and inversely with 2-h postglucose insulin concentrations, a marker of insulin resistance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all participants for their dedicated and conscientious collaboration.

Funding

This research received no specific grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Open Research Center for Studying of Lifestyle-Related Diseases, Mukogawa Women’s University, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan

    Mari Honda, Bin Wu, Tsutomu Kazumi & Keisuke Fukuo

  2. Department of Health, Sports and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Kobe Women’s University, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan

    Mari Honda

  3. Research Institute for Nutrition Sciences, Mukogawa Women’s University, 6-46, Ikebiraki-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, 663-8558, Japan

    Ayaka Tsuboi, Satomi Minato-Inokawa, Mika Takeuchi, Megumu Yano, Miki Kurata, Tsutomu Kazumi & Keisuke Fukuo

  4. Department of Nutrition, Osaka City Juso Hospital, Osaka, Japan

    Ayaka Tsuboi

  5. Laboratory of Community Health and Nutrition, Department of Bioscience, Graduate School of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan

    Satomi Minato-Inokawa

  6. Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, School of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Mukogawa Women’s University, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan

    Miki Kurata & Keisuke Fukuo

  7. Department of Endocrinology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China

    Bin Wu

  8. Department of Medicine, Kohnan Kakogawa Hospital, Kakogawa, Hyogo, Japan

    Tsutomu Kazumi

Authors
  1. Mari Honda
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  2. Ayaka Tsuboi
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  3. Satomi Minato-Inokawa
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Correspondence to Tsutomu Kazumi.

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Honda, M., Tsuboi, A., Minato-Inokawa, S. et al. Birth weight was associated positively with gluteofemoral fat mass and inversely with 2-h postglucose insulin concentrations, a marker of insulin resistance, in young normal-weight Japanese women. Diabetol Int 13, 375–380 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13340-021-00543-0

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