Blood Glucose Fluctuation Is Indicative of Adiposity

Introduction: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system is an effective tool for assessing a person’s glycemic control in real-time, in a “free living condition”. Poor glycemic control is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, obesity, and the pernicious deposition of fat in the abdominal region. Emerging data show that surges in glucose levels after a meal (postprandial glucose excursions) are more tightly linked to cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and diabetic complications than the traditional clinical measure of glycemic control using glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine if daily glycemic variability as measured by CGM is an indicator of total and regional body fat distribution and how CGM compares with HbA1c measurements. Methods: Twenty-seven volunteers participated in the study (Male: 11, Female: 16, Age: 32.15 ± 14.55 years, BMI: 28.43 ± 7.30 kg/m2). Total body and regional fat distribution (android, gynoid, android/gynoid) were determined using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Fasting blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured from collected blood samples. Glycemic variability was measured by CGM attached to the abdomen. Results: CGM glycemic variability was positively correlated with total body fat% (r= 0.4278; p= 0.0329), android fat% (r= 0.5313; p= 0.0063), and android/gynoid ratio (r= 0.5981; p= 0.0016). HbA1c was only positively correlated with android/ gynoid ratio (r= 0.5534; p= 0.0041). Conclusion: Higher blood glucose variability/fluctuation measured by CGM was associated with greater body fat, android fat, android/gynoid fat ratio, which are indicators of cardiovascular disease risks. Blood glucose fluctuation monitoring should be considered in blood glucose management. This study was funded by The University of Texas, El Paso Dodson Fund and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - R01DK132430. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.