Perfil metabólico y transcriptómico en población infantil obesa tras una intervención nutricional para la pérdida de peso

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity makes necessary to intensify obesity treatment. A successful weight loss programme in overweight and obese children and adolescents should be accompanied by a general metabolic improvement and a reduction in several cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 10-week intervention program, based on a moderate calorie restriction on metabolic and oxidative stress markers and gene expression profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from obese children. For this purpose, forty-four overweight/obese children (mean age 11.5 years; 50% males) were enrolled in a 10-week weight loss programme. Subjects were dichotomized by the median of Body Mass Index-Standard Deviation Score (BMI-SDS) change as high (HR) and low responders (LR) at the end of the weight loss programme. These results suggest that a lower decrease in dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) after the intervention may predict a greater weight loss in obese children with a good response to the diet. Furthermore, a better serum antioxidant-oxidant balance before a weight loss treatment could predict a better weight loss response. On the other hand, we showed, for the first time, a reduction in serum cardiotrophin-1 levels after a weight loss programme and that this decrease in cardiotrophin-1 was strongly associated with lower cholesterol levels in overweight/obese children. Finally, the study confirms that PBMC gene expression changes in obese boys may help to understand the weight loss response.