[Significance of fat distribution for metabolic risk factors in healthy males of normal weight].

A homogeneous group of non-obese men (n = 58), all 44 years old, were investigated in order to determine whether body fatness and especially abdominal fatness influence the metabolic risk profile in normal-weighted men. In addition, it was investigated which anthropometric measurements that were most closely associated with the risk profile. It was found that enhancement of total fatness, but particularly even a minor accumulation of the adipose tissue in the abdominal region in these otherwise non-obese men, was associated with a considerably adverse metabolic risk profile. Those risk factors that seemed to be most "sensitive" for abdominal fatness were HDL-cholesterol, the atherogenic index, triglyceride and fasting plasma insulin. The sagittal diameter (SD) seemed to be slightly better correlated to the risk profile than other anthropometric indices of abdominal fatness (e.g. WHR).