Objective: To determine the relationship among vitamin B12 status, obesity severity, and metabolic syndrome and its components in obese children..
Methods: This case-control study was conducted at the School of Medicine, Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey, from January 2012 and October 2014, and comprised cases of obese and healthy children. The obese children were divided into three groups according to body mass index-standard deviation score quartiles. Group 1 included the first quartile, group 2 included the second and third quartiles, and group 3 included the fourth quartile. Patients with a body mass index of >95th percentile, according to reference curves for Turkish children and adolescents, were considered obese.Patients with a body mass index between15th and 85th percentile were considered to have normal weight. The World Health Organisation's modified metabolic syndrome criteria for children were used to diagnose metabolic syndrome.SPSS 19 was used for data analysis.
Results: Of the 256 participants, 153(59.8%) were obese and 103(40.2%) were healthy controls. The mean age of the obese children was 12.69±2.29 years and that of healthy controls was 13.05±2.48 years. Mean vitamin B12 levels were significantly lower among obese children than healthy volunteers (p<0.001). Age and body mass index-standard deviation score were significantly associated with vitamin B12 status (r= -0.175, p=0.030; r= -0.210, p=0.09, respectively).
Conclusions: Increase in body mass index-standard deviation score was associated with a decrease in vitamin B12 levels.
Keywords: Vitamin B12, Obesity severity, Insulin resistance, Metabolic syndrome..