Higher levels of adiponectin in American than in Japanese men despite obesity

Kadowaki, Takashi; Sekikawa, Akira; Okamura, Tomonori; Takamiya, Tomoko; Kashiwagi, Atsunori; Zaky, Wahid R.; Maegawa, Hiroshi; El-Saed, Aiman; Nakamura, Yasuyuki; Evans, Rhobert W.; Edmundowicz, Daniel; Kita, Yoshikuni; Kuller, Lewis H.; Ueshima, Hirotsugu

doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2006.08.004

« Previous Next »Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental
Volume 55, Issue 12 , Pages 1561-1563, December 2006

Higher levels of adiponectin in American than in Japanese men despite obesity

Takashi Kadowaki
- Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga 520-2192, Japan
- Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Corresponding author. Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Shiga 520-2192, Japan. Tel.: +81 77 548 2191; fax: +81 77 543 9732.
Akira Sekikawa
- Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Tomonori Okamura
- Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga 520-2192, Japan
Tomoko Takamiya
- Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Atsunori Kashiwagi
- Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga 520-2192, Japan
Wahid R. Zaky
- Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Hiroshi Maegawa
- Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga 520-2192, Japan
Aiman El-Saed
- Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Yasuyuki Nakamura
- Department of Living and Welfare, Kyoto Women's University, Kyoto 605-8501, Japan
Rhobert W. Evans
- Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Daniel Edmundowicz
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA 15213, USA
Yoshikuni Kita
- Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga 520-2192, Japan
Lewis H. Kuller
- Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Hirotsugu Ueshima
- Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga 520-2192, Japan

Received 3 March 2006; accepted 29 August 2006.

Abstract

Levels of adiponectin are inversely associated with obesity levels. We examined the levels of adiponectin in American (n = 98) and Japanese (n = 92) men aged 40 to 49 years. Contrary to our expectations, the American men had higher levels of adiponectin than the Japanese men (13.3 ± 5.8 vs 7.3 ± 4.2 (μg/mL) despite higher levels of obesity. Smaller areas of visceral adipose tissue in American than in Japanese men may have resulted in the higher levels of adiponectin.