Oral Presentation ANZOS-OSSANZ-AOCO Joint Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

The obesity phenome (#22)

Dorit Samocha-Bonet 1
  1. Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Obesity is an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Over the past 20 years clinicians and researchers described diverse phenotypes in individuals with obesity. A (yet debatable) proportion of individuals with obesity have been suggested to maintain a better metabolic profile with peripheral insulin sensitivity comparable to that measured in individuals in the normal weight range. Better glucose and lipid regulation in muscle, liver and adipose have been documented in obese individuals who maintain insulin sensitivity. However, recent large cohort longitudinal studies suggest that metabolic health in obesity is not sustained in older age. Using the gold-standard hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp with glucose tracers, we found diverse phenotypes of muscle and liver insulin resistance in obesity. Some individuals were insulin-sensitive in both muscle and liver, some presented with dual organ insulin resistance, while some presented with mixed insulin resistance, being insulin-resistant in either muscle or liver while maintaining a relative insulin sensitivity in the other organ. I will present the key metabolic attributes of the different obesity phenotypes we identify at the Clinical Research Facility at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and explore their metabolic fate over time.