Research

Hormonal

An earlier age-related onset of obesity (becoming obese before age 20) is independently associated with higher insulin sensitivity and a more favorable lipid profile in obese postmenopausal women.

For obese postmenopausal women, having become obese at a younger age (before 20) may be associated with better insulin sensitivity and lipid profiles compared to those who became obese later in life. This highlights the importance of fat distribution and timing of obesity onset, not just current weight or duration of obesity.

GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Stepwise regression analysis showed that visceral adipose tissue and the age-related onset of obesity explained 22% and 13%, respectively, of the variance observed in insulin sensitivity...
Martin Brochu et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2001

Why this rating

Robust statistical association found via stepwise regression, but cross-sectional design prevents determining causality (i.e., does early obesity cause high sensitivity, or does high sensitivity cause early obesity?).

Source

What Are the Physical Characteristics Associated with a Normal Metabolic Profile Despite a High Level of Obesity in Postmenopausal Women?1

Martin Brochu et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2001

DOI 10.1210/jcem.86.3.7365

cross_sectional · n=43Cited 441×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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