Fat Cell Size and Number in Obese Children

The prevalence of the risk has been shown in many statistical studies; the consequences of obesity during childhood and adolescence on adipose cellularity in the adult have led to the focus of research on the evolution of adipocyte parameters in obese children. The body adipocyte total number is two to three times as high in obese children as in age-matched controls; it can be as high in school-age children as in adult normal subjects. Except for children of diabetic mothers, there is little information about the relationship between birth weight and total number of body adipocytes in obese children. Thus when fat cell size in different regions and the total adipocyte number of an individual are known, the success of the therapy “might be approximately predicted both in terms of remaining total body fat and in regional fat depot decrease.” the differences in adipocyte total number between obese and nonobese children reach a maximum at the end of adolescence.