Although there is a well established relationship between low birth weight and incident obesity in infancy, whether birth weight has an effect on body fat distribution is not known. In order to asses the relationship between birth weight and body fat distribution, Ibanez et al. carefully matched 32 children born with a normal weight to 32 children who were born small for gestational age (SGA) and compared their intra-abdominal (visceral) adipose tissue accumulation (measured by magnetic resonance imaging) and specific indices of insulin resistance and adipokine levels. Matching ensured that age, sex, and body mass index were not different between pairs. Children were all 6 years of age. It was found that, despite having a comparable total fat mass, children born SGA had more intra-abdominal adipose tissue accumulation (23 ± 1 cm2 vs. 18 ± 1 cm2, p=0.01) and considerably less subcutaneous adipose tissue accumulation (23 ± 2 cm2 vs. 28 ± 2 cm2, p=0.01) compared to children born appropriate for gestational age (AGA). Consequently, high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin levels were lower and insulin and insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels were higher in children born SGA [7.8 ± 0.8 mg/ml vs. 12.2 ± 0.7 mg/ml, 5.3 ± 0.5 mIU/l vs. 3.3 ± 0.2 mIU/l, 149 ± 9 mg/ml vs. 117 ± 6 ng/ml, respectively, for HMW adiponectin, insulin, and IGF-1 levels in SAG vs. AGA children (p£0.01)]. The results led the authors to suggest that beyond total body weight or even fat mass, body composition and “endocrine-metabolic” homeostasis might be altered in children born with a low birth weight.
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