{"doi":"10.1002/oby.22804","title":"Thigh Adipocyte Size is Inversely Related to Energy Intake and Respiratory Quotient in Healthy Women","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: The relationship between adipocyte size and ad libitum energy intake has not been previously examined. This study hypothesized an inverse relationship between adipocyte size and daily energy intake (DEI). METHODS: Seventy healthy adults (39 men and 31 women; BMI 30.0 [SD 6.3]) underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and subcutaneous fat biopsies from the abdomen and thigh. Osmium-fixed adipocytes were sized with a Coulter counter. Volunteers self-selected food from a vending machine paradigm as the only source of energy intake over 3 days as inpatients. Volunteers also had 24-hour respiratory quotient (RQ) measured in a whole-room indirect calorimeter. RESULTS: In women, the large cell peak diameter of the thigh depot was greater than that of the abdominal depot (Δ = +15.8 μm; P < 0.0001). In women, thigh peak diameter was inversely associated with DEI (β = -264.7 kcal/d per 10-μm difference; P = 0.03) after adjusting for demographics and body composition. The thigh peak diameter in women was associated with 24-hour RQ (r = -0.47, P = 0.04) after adjusting for demographics, body composition, and 24-hour energy balance. These associations did not extend to men or the abdominal depot. CONCLUSIONS: In women, thigh adipocyte size was associated with reduced DEI and 24-hour RQ, indicating a special role for thigh fat in women. This depot-specific sexual dimorphism indicates common regulation of energy intake and adipocyte size in the thigh region of women.","journal":"Obesity","year":2020,"id":107981,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9418,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":517927,"name":"Mujtaba H. Shah","orcid":"0000-0002-2442-4874","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":517928,"name":"Varsha Parthasarathy","orcid":"0000-0002-1422-772X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":261559,"name":"Shannon Parrington","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":234133,"name":"Mary Walter","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":339507,"name":"Susanne B. Votruba","orcid":"0000-0003-2429-8502","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":260540,"name":"Jonathan Krakoff","orcid":"0000-0001-6074-5600","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":260537,"name":"Paolo Piaggi","orcid":"0000-0003-2774-9161","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":366152,"name":"Douglas C. Chang","orcid":"0000-0003-4591-9056","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":260535,"name":"Alessio Basolo","orcid":"0000-0001-6888-7080","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":42,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:12:39.385256Z","pmid":"32352645","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}