turns out that when glucocorticoids stimulate fat deposition, they do it preferentially in the abdomen, promoting apple-shaped obesity. This even occurs in monkeys. The pattern arises because abdominal fat cells are more sensitive to glucocorticoids than are gluteal fat cells; the former have more receptors that respond to glucocorticoids by activating those fat-storing enzymes. Furthermore, glucocorticoids only do this in the presence of high insulin levels.
