Volume 32, Issue 3 pp. 571-582
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Childhood overweight and obesity: age stratification contributes to the differences in metabolic characteristics

Jinxia Wu

Jinxia Wu

Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

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Zhenchang Li

Zhenchang Li

Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

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Hongwei Zhu

Hongwei Zhu

Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, China

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Yajie Chang

Yajie Chang

Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

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Quanquan Li

Quanquan Li

Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

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Jing Chen

Corresponding Author

Jing Chen

Department of Child Health, Women and Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

Correspondence

Jianghua Feng, Department of Electronic Science, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China.

Email: [email protected]

Jing Chen, Department of Child Health, Women and Children's Hospital, Xiamen University, 10 Zhenhai Road, Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian 361003, China.

Email: [email protected]

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Guiping Shen

Guiping Shen

Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

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Jianghua Feng

Corresponding Author

Jianghua Feng

Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

Correspondence

Jianghua Feng, Department of Electronic Science, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China.

Email: [email protected]

Jing Chen, Department of Child Health, Women and Children's Hospital, Xiamen University, 10 Zhenhai Road, Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian 361003, China.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 19 December 2023
[Correction added on 15 January 2024, after first online publication: The Grant/Award number of Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Educational Committee has been corrected.]

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to identify the differential metabolic characteristics of children with overweight and obesity and understand their potential mechanism in different age stratifications.

Methods

Four hundred seventy-three children were recruited and divided into two age stratifications: >4 years (older children) and ≤4 years (younger children), and overweight and obesity were defined according to their BMI percentile. A one dimensional proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR)–based metabolomics strategy combined with pattern recognition methods was used to identify the metabolic characteristics of childhood overweight and obesity.

Results

Four and sixteen potential biomarkers related to overweight and two and twenty potential biomarkers related to obesity were identified from younger and older children, respectively. Fluctuations in phenylalanine, tyrosine, glutamine, leucine, histidine, and ascorbate co-occurred in children with obesity at two age stratifications. The disturbances in biosynthesis and metabolism of amino acids, lipid metabolism, and galactose metabolism disturbance were mainly involved in children with overweight and obesity.

Conclusions

The metabolic disturbances show a significant progression from overweight to obesity in children, and different metabolic characteristics were demonstrated in age stratifications. The changes in the levels of phenylalanine, tyrosine, glutamine, leucine, histidine, and ascorbate were tracked with the persistence of childhood obesity. These findings will promote the mechanistic understanding of childhood overweight and obesity.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The study data are available on demand.

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