Study on dietary constituents, hs-CRP serum levels and investigation of correlation between them in excess weight adolescents

M Karampola; A Argiriou; A Hitoglou-Makedou

Study on dietary constituents, hs-CRP serum levels and investigation of correlation between them in excess weight adolescents

Hippokratia. 2019 Jan-Mar;23(1):3-8.

Authors

M Karampola¹, A Argiriou^{1

2}, A Hitoglou-Makedou¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Lipids and Cardiovascular Disease prevention, 2 Pediatric Department, AHEPA University Hospital, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
² Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, Greece.

PMID: 32256031
PMCID: PMC7124880

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased in Greece as well as worldwide. Mediterranean diet is considered the world's most popular healthy eating pattern. C-reactive protein (CRP) has been shown to play an important pathophysiological role between inflammation and cardiovascular diseases and has been linked to obesity. Our study aimed to investigate the adolescents' diet, their high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) serum levels, and whether low-grade inflammation, present in obesity, is related to adolescents' diet.

Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 142 adolescents age- and gender- matched 13.4 ± 1.46 years, divided into two groups: the study group and the controls. The study group of 71 excess body weight adolescents was further divided into two subgroups of 28 overweight and 43 obese respectively; 71 normal weight age- and gender-matched served as controls. Dietary constituents (food weight, energy intake, protein, carbohydrate and fat consumption, fiber, and sugars) were analyzed. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was investigated, and hs-CRP serum levels were determined. The findings were compared between/among groups. Furthermore, the correlation of hs-CRP serum levels and food constituents between/among groups was investigated.

Results: We documented differences in several parameters among the groups: waist to hip ratio (p =0.001), food weight (p =0.040), energy intake (p =0.024), protein intake (p =0.001), total fibre (p =0.017), sugars (p =0.001), and the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents (KIDMED; p =0.008). No statistically significant difference was found for hs-CRP serum levels among the three groups. No correlation was found between hs-CRP serum levels and any of the dietary constituents.

Conclusions: Comparing the three groups (obese, overweight, and controls), we found statistically significant differences for food constituents but not for hs-CRP serum levels. In our study, inflammation was not found to be correlated with any of the dietary constituents. Further studies in a larger sample are required to consolidate these findings. HIPPOKRATIA 2019, 23(1): 3-8.

Keywords: Childhood obesity; Mediterranean diet; adolescents; hs- CRP; inflammation; macronutrient intake.