Adiponectin

Adiponectin is a hormone produced by your fat tissue that helps your body use insulin properly and protects against inflammation. People with more belly fat tend to have lower levels of this helpful hormone. Losing weight can raise adiponectin levels and improve your metabolic health.

Adiponectin is an adipokine secreted predominantly by visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue that enhances insulin sensitivity through AMPK activation and PPAR-alpha signalling, and exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic effects. Circulating levels are inversely correlated with visceral adiposity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome, and increase with weight loss. It represents a key mechanistic link between excess adiposity and cardiometabolic disease.

Improving markers such as adiponectin helps Dr Joseph Wang tailor weight loss plans that target the metabolic dysfunction underlying conditions like prediabetes and metabolic syndrome, not just the number on the scale.