No abstract

No abstract

According to our results, clinically healthy obese children have a higher degree of albuminuria and beta-2-microglobulinuria than normal weight children, indicating early renal glomerular and tubular dysfunction as a consequence of childhood obesity. The urinary albumin/creatinine ratio in the obese children was associated with certain metabolic derangements linked to obesity, and also with the clustering of features of the metabolic syndrome.

Previously we reported significantly higher values of γ-linolenic acid (GLA, 18:3n-6), dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DHGLA,, and arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) in plasma lipid classes in obese children than in nonobese controls. In the present study, fatty acid composition of plasma phospholipids (PL) and sterol esters (STE) was determined by high-resolution capillary gas-liquid chromatography in obese children with and without metabolic cardiovascular syndrome [MCS: defined as simultaneous presence of (i) dyslipidemia, (ii) hyperinsulinemia, (iii) hypertension, and (iv) impaired glucose tolerance] and in nonobese controls. Fatty acid composition of PL and STE lipids did not differ between obese children without MCS and controls. Obese children with MCS exhibited significantly lower linoleic acid (LA, values in PL (17.43 [2.36], % wt/wt, median [range from the first to the third quartile]) than obese children without MCS (19.14 [3.49]) and controls (20.28 [3.80]). In contrast, PL GLA values were significantly higher in obese children with (0.13 [0.08]) than in those without MCS (0.08 [0.04]), whereas STE GLA values were higher in obese children with MCS (1.04 [0.72]) than in controls (0.62 [0.48]). DHGLA values in PL were significantly higher in obese children with MCS (4.06 [0.74]) than in controls (2.69 [1.60]). The GLA/LA ratio was significantly higher, whereas the AA/DHGLA ratio was significantly lower in obese children with MCS than in obese children without MCS and in controls. In this study, LA metabolism was affected only in obese children with but not in those without MCS. In obese children with MCS, ∆6-desaturase activity appeared to be stimulated, whereas ∆5-desaturase activity appeared to be inhibited. Disturbances in LA metabolism may represent an additional health hazard within the multifaceted clinical picture of MCS.Prevalence of childhood obesity is high and still increasing in many affluent countries. In children and adolescents investigated from 1988 to 1991 in the United States, the prevalence of overweight based on body mass index was 11% according to the 95th and 22% according to the 85th percentile cutoff points (1). In Hungary, the prevalence of childhood obesity defined as body mass index exceeding the 90th percentile is around 13% (2). The long-term morbidity and mortality associated with childhood obesity are closely connected to the cardiovascular and metabolic status detectable in the pediatric age group (3). Therefore, identification of cardiovascular risk factors in obese children is of practical importance.Previously we found significantly higher percentage contributions of the n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA), γ-linolenic acid (GLA, 18:3n-6), dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DHGLA, 20:3n-6), and arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n-6) to the fatty acid composition of plasma lipid classes in obese children than in nonobese controls (4). Since LCPUFA are prone to lipid peroxidation, their enhanced availability in circulating lipids may represent a further risk factor of atherogenesis in ob...

These findings suggest that promoting MVPA may be have a beneficial effect on attention capacity, an important component of cognition, in adolescents.