WASHINGTON — Large breast size may not predict increased risk of type 2 diabetes, based on data from 92 overweight or obese premenopausal women.
Instead, “the previously documented association between breast size and type 2 diabetes risk may be explained by excess visceral adipose tissue and/or intermuscular adipose tissue,” Peter Janiszewski, a PhD candidate at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., said in a poster presented at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society.
The researchers reviewed full-body MRI data for overweight or obese women whose average age was 40 years. They were assessed for breast volume, visceral adipose tissue (VAT), abdominal and lower-body subcutaneous adipose tissue, and intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT).
Breast volume was not significantly associated with any of the cardiometabolic risk factors assessed in the study. Instead, visceral adipose tissue was associated with high levels of glucose and insulin on a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test, Mr. Janiszewski said.
After controlling for age, body mass index, and waist circumference, breast volume remained significantly associated with greater amounts of visceral adipose tissue and intermuscular adipose tissue. Overall, women with the greatest breast volume had approximately 1.1 kg more VAT and 1.3 kg more IMAT, compared with women with the smallest breasts. But abdominal and lower-body subcutaneous adipose tissue mass was not significantly different between women with the largest and smaller breast volumes.
The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.