The sexual dimorphism of obesity.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of mechanistic and physiological concepts without systematic search methodology
PubMed 25578600 · doi:10.1016/j.mce.2014.11.029
What was done
This narrative review summarizes literature describing how sex hormones influence adipose tissue deposition, adipocyte function, and metabolic syndrome risk across sexes and menopausal status.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data or effect sizes. Qualitatively, it notes that premenopausal females accrue fat predominantly in subcutaneous depots, conferring protection against metabolic syndrome, whereas males and postmenopausal females accrue more visceral fat, which correlates with elevated cardiovascular risk. Mechanistically, estrogens act directly on adipocyte receptors and augment depot-specific sympathetic tone, enhancing subcutaneous fat cell expandability while inhibiting visceral expansion.
Why it matters
Understanding sex-specific physiological mechanisms of fat distribution helps explain differential cardiovascular risks between sexes and informs sex-tailored strategies for managing obesity and metabolic disease.
Limits
The paper is a narrative review without systematic search criteria, meta-analytic pooling, or quality grading of cited sources. The abstract provides no primary data, sample sizes, or quantitative measures.
Cited by
- supports Estrogen directs the body to store fat subcutaneously in adipose tissue rather than viscerally.