Men vs women: hidden obesity risks
Researchers report that people with obesity show different “hidden” risks by sex — men were more likely to have harmful abdominal (visceral) fat and signs of liver stress, while women showed higher inflammation and cholesterol levels, according to a new summary of findings. (sciencedaily.com)
Obesity can stress the body in different ways, and a new analysis found that men and women with obesity showed different hidden risk patterns. (eurekalert.org) Researchers at Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey analyzed 1,134 adults treated at an obesity clinic between 2024 and 2025: 886 women with an average age of 45 and 248 men with an average age of 41. The findings are scheduled for presentation at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul on May 12-15, 2026. (eurekalert.org) The men in the study were more likely to carry visceral fat, the fat packed around internal organs in the abdomen, and to have higher liver enzyme levels, a blood-test signal that can point to liver stress or damage. Women were more likely to show systemic inflammation and higher cholesterol levels in their blood tests. (sciencedaily.com) Visceral fat is different from the fat just under the skin because it wraps around organs such as the liver, intestines, pancreas, and stomach. Cleveland Clinic says excess visceral fat is linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. (my.clevelandclinic.org) The study focused on obesity alongside metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that includes abdominal obesity, abnormal cholesterol or triglycerides, high blood pressure, and raised fasting glucose. The European Association for the Study of Obesity said an estimated 1.54 billion adults worldwide were living with metabolic syndrome in 2023. (eurekalert.org) Obesity itself is widespread: the World Health Organization said 890 million adults worldwide were living with obesity in 2022, and 2.5 billion adults were overweight. The agency said adult obesity has more than doubled since 1990. (who.int) The new results fit with earlier research showing that fat distribution and inflammation do not track the same way in men and women. A 2024 paper in the International Journal of Obesity found that women with obesity showed stronger links between abdominal fat under the skin and inflammatory markers, while in men those inflammatory markers were tied more closely to visceral fat. (nature.com) A 2025 review in World Journal of Men’s Health reported that men are generally more prone to visceral fat accumulation, while estrogen helps steer fat storage toward subcutaneous tissue in women. The review also said most obesity care still does not account for sex-specific differences in risk and treatment response. (wjmh.org) Because these findings are being presented at a conference, they should be treated as preliminary until a full peer-reviewed paper is published. For now, the main takeaway from the dataset is narrow but concrete: the same body mass index can come with different warning signs in men and women. (eurekalert.org)
