Relation between visceral fat and disease risk in children and adolescents.

This review examines whether the relations and metabolic parameters necessary for the development of syndrome X are present in children and whether the metabolic complications of obesity in children are explained by excess intraabdominal adipose tissue (IAAT), or visceral fat. Despite the limited use of imaging techniques in research studies, an increasing number of studies reported on IAAT and its relation to disease risk in children and adolescents. For this article we reviewed studies that documented the early accumulation of IAAT in children and adolescents and the factors that contribute to variation in the degree of IAAT accumulation. We also reviewed studies that showed the clinical relevance of IAAT in children and adolescents through significant relations with adverse health effects including dyslipidemia and glucose intolerance in obese and nonobese children and adolescents of different ethnic groups.