Abstract

AIMS: To assess young healthy men from rural India, who had normal or low birth weights, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine the potential differences in ectopic fat storage between birth weight groups, and to determine if ectopic fat storage was associated with insulin resistance in this population.

METHODS: A total of 54 lean men with normal birth weight and 49 lean men with low birth weight (age range 18-22 years) from rural India were recruited. All the men underwent anthropometry, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, a hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp and a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

RESULTS: The median (interquartile range) values for hepatic cellular lipids, intramyocellular lipids and extramyocellular lipids, measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy were 0.76 (0.1-1.8)%, 1.27 (1.0-2.3)% and 1.89 (1.3-3.2)%, respectively, for the normal birth weight group and 0.4 (0.1-1.3)%, 1.38 (0.9-2.2)% and 2.07 (1.2-2.8)%, respectively, for the low birth weight group (P > 0.05). No difference in ectopic fat storage was observed between the low and normal birth weight groups, with or without adjustment for age and total fat percentage. Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance values were not associated with hepatic cellular, intramyocellular or extramyocellular lipid content in any of the groups. Total fat percentage was the only independent predictor of intramyocellular and extramyocellular lipid content.

CONCLUSION: Young and lean men from rural India with low birth weight were not observed to have ectopic fat storage in the liver or muscle, and the amount of liver and muscle fat was unrelated to insulin resistance. Older age and/or an urban affluent lifestyle may be required to show a potential role of ectopic fat storage on insulin resistance in Indian people with low or normal birth weight.