Figure 1.

Phenotypic traits associated with metabolically healthy versus unhealthy obesity. Individuals with metabolically healthy obesity (MHO, prevalence ~10–30%) are characterized by lower liver and visceral fat mass, higher leg fat content, greater cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity, insulin sensitivity, normal inflammation markers, and preserved adipose tissue function compared to patients with metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUO, prevalence ~80–90%). Transabdominal MRI scans with highlighted (yellow) visceral fat depot area from 2 women with the same age and BMI, but either MHO or MUO show ~2.6-fold higher visceral fat deposition associated with MUO (pictures provided by Nicolas Linder).