A groundbreaking Nature Medicine study just confirmed what many have suspected: BMI alone doesn't predict cardiometabolic risk accurately. 🔬📊
Instead, researchers identified 5 distinct subtypes of obesity, revealing that some individuals have higher or lower health risks than expected for their BMI! 💡
🔍 The 5 Obesity Subtypes & What They Mean:
1. 📈 Discordant Hyperglycemic Profile (DHG)
🔹 Higher-than-expected fasting glucose for BMI.
🔹 High risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). 🚨
🔹 Common in lean individuals who exceed their Personal Fat Threshold (PFT)—fat spills over into the liver & pancreas, impairing insulin function.
2. 🩸 Discordant Adverse Lipid Profile (DAL)
🔹 High triglycerides, low HDL, & high LDL despite BMI.
🔹 Higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) & major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). ❤️
🔹 Suggests lipotoxicity—excess fat stored in the blood instead of adipose tissue.
3. 🛑 Discordant Liver Transaminase Profile (DLT)
🔹 Higher ALT (liver enzyme), indicating fatty liver (NAFLD).
🔹 Lower risk of heart disease but potential metabolic dysfunction.
🔹 Suggests that liver fat accumulation starts before obesity develops in some individuals.
4. 🔥 Discordant Inflammatory State (DIS)
🔹 High C-reactive protein (CRP), signaling chronic inflammation.
🔹 Increased risk for heart disease, stroke & metabolic dysfunction.
🔹 Suggests that inflammatory pathways drive disease even before significant weight gain.
5. 💓 Discordant Hypertensive Profile (DHT) (Women Only)
🔹 Higher-than-expected blood pressure for BMI.
🔹 Lower risk for diabetes but potential for heart disease.
🔹 It may be influenced by hormonal & vascular differences in women.
💡 These findings align with the Personal Fat Threshold (PFT) Hypothesis!
PFT suggests that each person has a unique limit to how much fat they can store safely before it spills into organs, leading to metabolic disease—even at a normal BMI!
🔥 Takeaway: It’s not just about how much fat you have but where it’s stored & how your body handles it. Personalized health > BMI alone.
🔗 Read the study
Coral, D. E., Smit, F., Farzaneh, A., Gieswinkel, A., Fernandez Tajes, J., Sparsø, T., Delfin, C., Bauvin, P., Wang, K., Temprosa, M., De Cock, D., Blanch, J., Fernández-Real, J. M., Ramos, R., Ikram, M. K., Gomez, M. F., Kavousi, M., Panova-Noeva, M., Wild, P. S., ... Franks, P. W. (2025). Subclassification of obesity for precision prediction of cardiometabolic diseases. Nature Medicine, 31, 534–543. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03299-7
#Obesity #MetabolicHealth #PersonalFatThreshold #Lipotoxicity #PrecisionMedicine #HealthScience #Diabetes #HeartDisease
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