“…Comprehensive details regarding sample collection and analytical procedures have previously been published [ 30 ]. During the first visit to the study centre, children, adolescents, or their parents were provided with a collection cup and instructions for obtaining morning urine samples.…”
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been implicated in chronic diseases in adults, but their role in paediatric populations remains uncertain. This study, conducted on the Italian sample of the I.Family project, aimed to investigate the relationship between dietary and urinary fluorescent AGEs in children and adolescents. The secondary objective was to investigate the sources of dietary AGEs (dAGEs) and their association with dietary composition and anthropometric parameters. Dietary data were collected from 1048 participants via 24 h dietary recall in 2013/2014 to estimate dAGEs intake, while urinary fluorescent AGE levels were measured in 544 individuals. Participants were stratified based on dAGEs intake and compared with respect to urinary fluorescent AGE levels, anthropometric measurements, and dietary intake. The results showed no significant correlation between dietary and urinary fluorescent AGE levels, nor between dAGEs and anthropometric parameters. Notably, higher dAGEs were associated with a diet richer in protein (especially from meat sources) and fat and lower in carbohydrates. In addition, the consumption of ultra-processed foods was lower in participants with a higher DAGE intake. This study highlights the lack of a clear association between dietary and urinary fluorescent AGEs in children, but suggests a distinctive dietary pattern associated with increased dAGEs intake. Further investigation is warranted to elucidate the potential health implications of dAGEs in paediatric populations.
“…Comprehensive details regarding sample collection and analytical procedures have previously been published [ 30 ]. During the first visit to the study centre, children, adolescents, or their parents were provided with a collection cup and instructions for obtaining morning urine samples.…”
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been implicated in chronic diseases in adults, but their role in paediatric populations remains uncertain. This study, conducted on the Italian sample of the I.Family project, aimed to investigate the relationship between dietary and urinary fluorescent AGEs in children and adolescents. The secondary objective was to investigate the sources of dietary AGEs (dAGEs) and their association with dietary composition and anthropometric parameters. Dietary data were collected from 1048 participants via 24 h dietary recall in 2013/2014 to estimate dAGEs intake, while urinary fluorescent AGE levels were measured in 544 individuals. Participants were stratified based on dAGEs intake and compared with respect to urinary fluorescent AGE levels, anthropometric measurements, and dietary intake. The results showed no significant correlation between dietary and urinary fluorescent AGE levels, nor between dAGEs and anthropometric parameters. Notably, higher dAGEs were associated with a diet richer in protein (especially from meat sources) and fat and lower in carbohydrates. In addition, the consumption of ultra-processed foods was lower in participants with a higher DAGE intake. This study highlights the lack of a clear association between dietary and urinary fluorescent AGEs in children, but suggests a distinctive dietary pattern associated with increased dAGEs intake. Further investigation is warranted to elucidate the potential health implications of dAGEs in paediatric populations.
“…A detailed description of sample collection and analytical procedures has been previously published [ 39 ]. The fasting venous blood was collected in BD Vacutainer ® blood collection tubes according to standard operating procedures [ 39 ].…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…A detailed description of sample collection and analytical procedures has been previously published [ 39 ]. The fasting venous blood was collected in BD Vacutainer ® blood collection tubes according to standard operating procedures [ 39 ]. Samples were processed at the local survey centers and shipped to the central biorepository and to the clinical laboratory for analysis at regular intervals.…”
Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) have been positively correlated with inflammation in adults, while inconsistent evidence is available in children. We evaluated the association between urinary AGEs, measured by fluorescence spectroscopy, and biomarkers of subclinical inflammation in 676 healthy children/adolescents (age 11.8 ± 1.6 years, M ± SD) from the Italian cohort of the I.Family project. Urinary fluorescent AGEs were used as independent variable and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was the primary outcome, while other biomarkers of inflammation were investigated as secondary outcomes. Participants with urinary AGEs above the median of the study population showed statistically significantly higher hs-CRP levels as compared to those below the median (hs-CRP 0.44 ± 1.1 vs. 0.24 ± 0.6 mg/dL, M ± SD p = 0.002). We found significant positive correlations between urinary AGEs and hs-CRP (p = 0.0001), IL-15 (p = 0.001), IP-10 (p = 0.006), and IL-1Ra (p = 0.001). At multiple regression analysis, urinary AGEs, age, and BMI Z-score were independent variables predicting hs-CRP levels. We demonstrated for the first time, in a large cohort of children and adolescents, that the measurement of fluorescent urinary AGEs may represent a simple, noninvasive, and rapid technique to evaluate the association between AGEs and biomarkers of inflammation. Our data support a role of AGEs as biomarkers of subclinical inflammation in otherwise healthy children and adolescents.
“…In wave 3, questionnaires were completed by parents or their legal guardians for children up to 11 years old and for themselves and also by children for themselves if aged ≥12 years. Children participating in the study were asked to donate venous or capillary blood and to provide a saliva sample for DNA [ 25 ]. Fig.…”
Background
Many genes and molecular pathways are associated with obesity, but the mechanisms from genes to obesity are less well known. Eating behaviors represent a plausible pathway, but because the relationships of eating behaviors and obesity may be bi-directional, it remains challenging to resolve the underlying pathways. A longitudinal approach is needed to assess the contribution of genetic risk during the development of obesity in childhood. In this study we aim to examine the relationships between the polygenic risk score for body mass index (PRS-BMI), parental concern of overeating and obesity indices during childhood.
Methods
The IDEFICS/I.Family study is a school-based multicenter pan-European cohort of children observed for 6 years (mean ± SD follow-up 5.8 ± 0.4). Children examined in 2007/2008 (wave 1) (mean ± SD age: 4.4 ± 1.1, range: 2–9 years), in 2009/2010 (wave 2) and in 2013/2014 (wave 3) were included. A total of 5112 children (49% girls) participated at waves 1, 2 and 3. For 2656 children with genome-wide data we constructed a PRS based on 2.1 million single nucleotide polymorphisms. Z-score BMI and z-score waist circumference (WC) were assessed and eating behaviors and relevant confounders were reported by parents via questionnaires. Parental concern of overeating was derived from principal component analyses from an eating behavior questionnaire.
Results
In cross-lagged models, the prospective associations between z-score obesity indices and parental concern of overeating were bi-directional. In mediation models, the association between the PRS-BMI and parental concern of overeating at wave 3 was mediated by baseline z-BMI (β = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.21) and baseline z-WC (β = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.23). To a lesser extent, baseline parental concern of overeating also mediated the association between the PRS-BMI and z-BMI at wave 3 (β = 0.10, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.13) and z-WC at wave 3 (β = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.12).
Conclusions
The findings suggest that the prospective associations between obesity indices and parental concern of overeating are likely bi-directional, but obesity indices have a stronger association with future parental concern of overeating than vice versa. The findings suggest parental concern of overeating as a possible mediator in the genetic susceptibility to obesity and further highlight that other pathways are also involved. A better understanding of the genetic pathways that lead to childhood obesity can help to prevent weight gain.
Trial registration
Registry number: ISRCTN62310987 Retrospectively registered 17 September 2018.
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