Scientists looked at two types of fat in lean Chinese adults - belly fat and fat under the skin - and found that certain genes involved in inflammation and stress response are less active in the belly fat.

In fat tissue from Chinese adults, higher levels of a specific receptor that responds to stress hormones are linked to higher levels of a receptor that triggers inflammation. They're connected in a way that when one goes up, the other tends to go up too.

In adults with obesity from China, a gene called TLR4 that helps control inflammation is more active in fat stored deep inside the belly around organs than in fat found just under the skin.

In people with obesity from China, the genes that make a specific inflammatory marker called TNF-alpha are more active in the fat around the organs inside the belly than in the fat under the skin.

Chronic elevation of cortisol preferentially promotes central adiposity due to the higher density of glucocorticoid receptors in visceral adipose tissue compared to subcutaneous depots.

In Chinese adults, the gene that makes the hunger-controlling hormone leptin is less active in fat stored around the organs inside the belly compared to fat stored under the skin, whether someone is lean or obese.