Objective

We aimed to investigate the associations between weight change during adulthood and the amount of abdominal subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, and liver fat at middle age.

Methods

The Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO) study is a population-based cohort of 6671 middle-aged men and women. We calculated the percentage of weight change during adulthood based on body weight at middle age and recalled body weight at age 20. Abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue were assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in addition to hepatic triglyceride content by 1H-MR spectroscopy in a random subgroup (maximum of n = 2580). With multivariable linear regression analysis, we examined the associations between categories of adult weight change, body mass index (BMI) at age 20 and measures of abdominal adiposity at middle age, adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, lifestyle factors, menopausal status, parity, use of medication and total body fat at middle age.

Results

In 2399 participants (54% women), individuals who gained more than 50% of body weight during adulthood had 1.96 (95% CI: 1.64; 2.33) times more visceral adipose tissue at middle age and 2.39 (95% CI: 1.70, 3.36) times more hepatic triglyceride content than weight maintainers (weight change between -5% and 5%). Associations with abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue were weaker: participants who gained more than 50% of their body weight had 1.54 (95% CI: 1.38, 1.72) times more abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue compared with weight maintainers.

Conclusions

In this population-based study, adult weight gain was associated with relatively more visceral adipose tissue and hepatic triglyceride content at middle age than abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue. Overall, our study suggests that weight maintenance during adulthood plays an important role in limiting excess visceral adipose tissue and hepatic triglyceride content at middle age.