Research
Hormonal
Higher leg fat mass is independently associated with lower fasting and postload glucose levels, suggesting a protective effect against disturbed glucose metabolism.
Do not strive to lose fat from your legs if you have high trunk fat. Leg fat may help protect your blood sugar levels. Focus weight loss efforts on the abdominal area.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In contrast, in the same regression models, a larger leg fat mass was associated with lower glucose levels.
Why this rating
Robust statistical adjustment and clear inverse association, particularly in women.
Source
Trunk Fat and Leg Fat Have Independent and Opposite Associations With Fasting and Postload Glucose Levels
Marieke B. Snijder et al. · Diabetes Care · 2004
DOI 10.2337/diacare.27.2.372
cross_sectional · n=556Cited 418×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Hip circumference is a poor proxy for trunk fat and a good proxy for leg fat and lean mass, making waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) a complex metric influenced by both harmful trunk fat and protective leg tissue.Strong
- Higher trunk fat mass is independently associated with higher fasting and postload glucose levels, indicating a detrimental effect on glucose metabolism.Good
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