Research

Hormonal

Higher circulating levels of phospholipid metabolites, specifically choline, glycerophosphoethanolamine, and glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC), are associated with an insulin-sensitive phenotype in obese individuals, distinguishing them from obese insulin-resistant individuals.

This research suggests that for obese individuals, metabolic health (specifically insulin sensitivity) can be distinguished by blood levels of choline and related phospholipids. Higher levels of these metabolites are linked to a protective, insulin-sensitive state. This implies that metabolic health is not uniform across all obese individuals and may be assessed through specific biomarkers rather than weight alone.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Our results showed that phospholipid metabolites including choline, glycerophosphoethanolamine and glycerophosphorylcholine were significantly altered from OIS when compared with OIR and T2DM individuals... Figure 1 demonstrates higher levels of choline, glycophosphoethanolamine and GPC in OIS compared OIR + T2DM and lean groups.
Haya Al‐Sulaiti et al. · Journal of Translational Medicine · 2019

Why this rating

The study is a pilot observational study with a relatively small sample size (n=107) and cross-sectional design, limiting causal interpretation.

Source

Metabolic signature of obesity-associated insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes

Haya Al‐Sulaiti et al. · Journal of Translational Medicine · 2019

DOI 10.1186/s12967-019-2096-8

cross_sectional · n=107Cited 179×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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