Study population characteristics.

Data represented as mean ± SEM. LH, lean healthy; MHO, metabolically healthy obese; MUO, metabolically unhealthy obese; BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; Total-c, total-cholesterol; LDL-c, low-density lipoprotein; HDL-c, high-density lipoprotein; TG, triglycerides; HbA1c, glycosylated haemoglobin; HOMA-IR, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance; HOMA%B, homeostatic model assessment for β-cell function. A non-parametric ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis test followed by a post-hoc Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test was used to determine significance between groups (P<0.05).