Fig. 1

The acceleration of epigenetic aging in VAT correlates with BMI. First row of panels represents the correlation between chronological age and DNA methylation (DNAm) age, estimated with the reduced version of Horvath’s epigenetic clock [21], in blood (a, red dashed line), visceral adipose tissue—VAT—(b, yellow dashed line), liver (c, green dashed line), and in the liver of subjects with severe obesity (d, blue dashed line). Second row of panels from e to h show the correlation between residuals from regressing DNAm age on chronological age, and body mass index (BMI) in blood (e), VAT (f), liver (g), and in the liver of subjects with obesity (h). Residuals above zero (horizontal black line) stand for an acceleration of DNAm age. r and p stand for Pearson correlation coefficients and p values, respectively. Blue and gray dots refer to men and women, respectively