Meal‐related Changes in Ghrelin, Peptide YY, and Appetite in Normal Weight and Overweight Children

Abstract

objective: Ghrelin and peptide YY (PYY) are two gut hormones that have effects on appetite. Our objectives were to characterize the patterns of secretion of these hormones in response to feeding in school-age children and determine whether there were differences between normal weight (NW) and overweight (OW) subjects. Methods and Procedures: This was a cross-sectional study at one tertiary care center. Subjects were 7-to 11-year-old healthy NW and OW volunteers recruited from local advertisements. Following an overnight fast, the subjects were given a standardized breakfast and lunch and had nine hourly blood samples for total ghrelin and total PYY. We assessed whether ghrelin and PYY levels changed from the preprandial to postprandial state and corresponded to reported hunger/satiety. Results: Hunger ratings were similar between the two groups throughout the study period. Ghrelin was not suppressed after eating, did not rise prior to the next meal, and did not correspond to hunger ratings in either group. PYY increased postprandially and decreased preprandially in the NW group, but OW children exhibited this pattern for only part of the day. PYY levels incompletely corresponded to reported satiety in the OW group. Discussion: Mixed meal consumption had little effect on ghrelin secretion and a variable effect on PYY secretion in young children in our study. Differences that were observed between the groups do not suggest that an abnormality in their secretion contributes to the development of obesity.

High-Protein Breakfast Promotes Weight Loss by Suppressing Subsequent Food Intake and Regulating Appetite Hormones in Obese Chinese Adolescents

“…Our results suggest that a high-protein breakfast for as short as 3 months can promote a better weight loss effect in obese Chinese adolescents. This is consistent with the results of other clinical studies in children in the USA [30,31]. This is very exciting as it may point out a direction for intervention of childhood obesity in our daily clinical practice.…”

“…Some showed that ghrelin did not respond to a meal [31], while others suggested that the pattern of ghrelin is similar to that in adults with a reduction after a meal [38,39,40]. A recent study in obese prepubertal children suggested that ghrelin reduces more significantly in a high-protein diet compared with a high-carbohydrate diet, which seems be associated with increased satiety [31]. The correlation between ghrelin, satiety and weight loss may indicate the orexigenic role of ghrelin in weight loss [41,42].…”

Children with Prader–Willi syndrome exhibit more evident meal-induced responses in plasma ghrelin and peptide YY levels than obese and lean children

“…These discrepant findings probably reflect the marked variability in fasting plasma ghrelin concentrations, which has also been reported in other studies, in which PWS children were compared to age-matched controls 23,30,31). Notably, in the work by Haqq et al (20), only one-third of PWS children were hyperghrelinemic, a finding in clear contrast with the prevailing detection of high ghrelin levels in PWS adults (21,22).…”

Gastric emptying rate, glycemic and appetite response to a liquid meal in lean and overweight males

“…While these results are in agreement with the results provided by Coelho et al (2006), they differ from those reported by Lomenick et al (2008), which found no difference in subjective appetite response between lean and overweight participants. The inconsistency may be because the intervention period in those studies was different (3 h versus 8 h).…”

“…While this makes the results more generalizable to a wider population, it may also mask potential different responses between lean and overweight participants. To date, only a limited number of studies have investigated the difference in appetite responses between overweight and lean participants; the results remain inconclusive (Brondel et al, 2007;Coelho et al, 2006;Lomenick et al, 2008;Seimon et al, 2013). Different study design, test foods and study populations may have partly accounted for the conflicting results.…”