Table 1. Baseline characteristics of the control and the obesity study group.

	lean	obese	p-value
gender (% female)	66.7	65.2	p = 0.934
age (years)	37.8±3.2	42.8±2.6	p = 0.242
weight (kg)	66.5±2.8	131.9±4.0	p<0.001
BMI (kg/m2)	22.3±0.4	44.1±1.1	p<0.001
fasting insulin (µU/ml)	10.0±2.2	17.2±1.9	p<0.01
fasting glucose (mg/dl)	81.9±4.3	92.7±3.8	p<0.05
fasting triglycerides (mg/dl)	109.4±11.7	146.9±11.8	p<0.05
C reactive protein (mg/l)	2.1±1.4	7.2±1.0	p<0.01
HOMA-IR index	1.9±0.3	3.9±0.6	p<0.01