The portal-visceral hypothesis describes a possible mechanism for some of the health effects of
obesity, particularly the
metabolic syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a clustering of at least three of the following five medical conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL).
Metabolic syndrome ...
. It says that obesity (especially visceral obesity) results in increased circulation of
free fatty acids and thus, via
Randle's effect The Randle cycle, also known as the glucose fatty-acid cycle, is a metabolic process involving the competition of glucose and fatty acids for substrates. It is theorized to play a role in explaining type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
It was n ...
, in
insulin resistance
Insulin resistance (IR) is a pathological condition in which cell (biology), cells fail to respond normally to the hormone insulin.
Insulin is a hormone that facilitates the transport of glucose from blood into cells, thereby reducing blood gluco ...
.
The word "portal" refers to the
hepatic portal circulation
In human anatomy, the hepatic portal system is the system of veins comprising the hepatic portal vein and its tributaries. It is also called the portal venous system (although it is not the only example of a portal venous system) and splanchnic v ...
from the digestive system to the liver. The portal-visceral hypothesis is a replacement for the earlier "portal hypothesis", which said that visceral obesity leads to an increase in fatty acid levels specifically in the portal vein.
References
Diabetes
Medical conditions related to obesity
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