Fat Loss, Gain: No Link?

Yet another study--one of 425 HIV-positive and 152 HIV-negative men--has shown there is no single antiretroviral-related syndrome that causes both belly fat gains and fat loss from the limbs and face, San Francisco researchers report in the October issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Although fat loss and fat gain are often lumped together as 'fat redistribution' or the even broader 'lipodystrophy,' lead researcher Carl Grunfeld of the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center says, 'There isn't a shred of evidence that HIV-positive men who lost fat in their legs reciprocally gain fat in their bellies. The two are totally not associated.' The researchers had found that men who lost fat from their face and extremities also tended to lose--not gain--fat from their abdomens, neck, and shoulders. Further, only fat loss was tied to antiretroviral treatment. Fat gain was strongly associated with age, likely due to dietary and exercise shortcomings among older HIVers, the researchers conclude. The researchers are now analyzing data from a similar study of HIV-positive women