Dietary Patterns, Abdominal Visceral Adipose Tissue, and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study

Objective: To examine the relative association of abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) with cardiometabolic risk factors between African and European Americans. Design and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 2035 African Americans from Jackson Heart Study (JHS) and 3170 European Americans from Framingham Heart Study (FHS) who underwent computed tomography assessment of VAT and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). The FHS participants were weighted to match the age distribution of the JHS participants and the metabolic risk factors were examined by study groups in relation to VAT. Results: JHS participants had higher rates of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and metabolic syndrome than FHS participants (all p = 0.001). The associations were weaker in JHS women for VAT with blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL-C, and total cholesterol (p(interaction) = 0.03 to 0.001) than FHS women. In contrast, JHS men had stronger associations for VAT with high triglycerides, low HDL, and metabolic syndrome (all p(interaction) = 0.001) compared to FHS men. Similar associations and gender patterns existed for SAT with most metabolic risk factors. Conclusions: The relative association between VAT and cardiometabolic risk factors is weaker in JHS women compared to FHS women, whereas stronger association with triglycerides and HDL were observed in JHS men.