Gertraud Maskarinec

“The goal of the proposed project was to investigate how life style risk factors, i.e., smoking, alcohol intake, diet, and physical activity, are related to body fat distribution and abnormal glycemic status and/or type 2 diabetes. During recent years, it has become apparent that the distribution and type of body fat, foremost the presence of metabolically active visceral adipose tissue (VAT), plays an important role in the development of chronic disease beyond the detrimental influence of excess body weight. Therefore, we examined the relation of dietary indices and a Lifestyle Risk Factor Index with the presence of VAT and diabetes based on meta-analysis of existing studies and using data from two large cohorts: the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) in Hawai’i and Los Angeles and the German National Cohort (NAKO). The studies assessed risk factors by questionnaire and body fat by Magnetic Resonance Imaging. So far, the findings support the hypothesis that healthy dietary indices and a combination of healthy lifestyle factors is reflected by lower VAT levels independent of BMI and a lower probability for an abnormal glycemic status.”