Association between Blood Manganese Levels and Visceral Adipose Tissue in the United States: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

Background: Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace element with a narrow toxic margin for human health. The association between Mn exposure and adverse visceral adipose tissue (VAT) accumulation is unclear. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the associations of blood Mn levels with VAT mass or visceral obesity in the general population in the United States. Method: This cross-sectional study included data of 7297 individuals released by National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). VAT was quantified with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and blood Mn was measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The generalized linear model and generalized additive model (GAM) were applied to estimate the linear and non-linear associations between Mn levels and VAT mass, respectively. Logistic regression was used to estimate the associations between blood Mn levels and the risk of visceral obesity. Results: Fully adjusted generalized linear regression revealed that individuals in the higher quantile of Mn had increased VAT mass compared with those in the lower quantile (β per quantile change = 0.025; 95% CI of 0.017, 0.033; p p = 0.020); female: β per quantile change = 0.036; 95% CI of 0.023, 0.048 (p 1 in total participants, males, and females). A stratified analysis found significant interactions between Mn and the family income-to-poverty ratio (PIR) in males, with stronger associations in males with a PIR p < 0.001). Conclusions: Higher blood Mn levels were positively associated with increased VAT mass and visceral obesity risk. The adverse VAT phenotype associated with excessive blood Mn levels should be further investigated.

Keywords

• manganese
• visceral adipose tissue
• visceral obesity
• NHANES
• epidemiology