• Chloë Goossens, Mirna Bastos Marques, Sarah Derde, Sarah Vander Perre, Thomas Dufour, Steven E Thiessen, Fabian Güiza, Thomas Janssens, Greet Hermans, Ilse Vanhorebeek, Katrien De Bock, Greet Van den Berghe, and Lies Langouche.
• Clinical Division and Laboratory of Intensive Care Medicine, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
• J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2017 Feb 1; 8 (1): 89-101.

BackgroundThe 'obesity paradox' of critical illness refers to better survival with a higher body mass index. We hypothesized that fat mobilized from excess adipose tissue during critical illness provides energy more efficiently than exogenous macronutrients and could prevent lean tissue wasting.MethodsIn lean and premorbidly obese mice, the effect of 5 days of sepsis-induced critical illness on body weight and composition, muscle wasting, and weakness was assessed, each with fasting and parenteral feeding. Also, in lean and overweight/obese prolonged critically ill patients, markers of muscle wasting and weakness were compared.ResultsIn mice, sepsis reduced body weight similarly in the lean and obese, but in the obese with more fat loss and less loss of muscle mass, better preservation of myofibre size and muscle force, and less loss of ectopic lipids, irrespective of administered feeding. These differences between lean and obese septic mice coincided with signs of more effective hepatic fatty acid and glycerol metabolism, and ketogenesis in the obese. Also in humans, better preservation of myofibre size and muscle strength was observed in overweight/obese compared with lean prolonged critically ill patients.ConclusionsDuring critical illness premorbid obesity, but not nutrition, optimized utilization of stored lipids and attenuated muscle wasting and weakness.© 2016 The Authors. Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders.

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