A Study of Dietary Behavior and Serum Leptin Levels of Obese Children / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among serum leptin, nutritional status, and the obesity indices of 55 obese children in Daegu and Kyungpook area. Obesity was defined as fat percentage that exceed 25% of body fat mass. Energy and nutritional status were tended to be low, and dietary intake of calcium and iron were less than any other nutrients in all the subjects. Especially, beverage intake of obese group was more than non-obese group. The leptin level were significantly correlated with %RDA of energy (0.41, p < 0.001), protein (0.44, p < 0.001), phosphate (0.40, p < 0.001), iron (0.37, p < 0.001), vitamin A (0.31, p < 0.01), thiamin (0.40, p < 0.001), riboflavin (0.26, p < 0.05), niacin (0.51, p < 0.001), and vitamin C (0.24, p < 0.05). The leptin level were significantly correlated with MAR (mean adequacy ratio, r = 0.43, p < 0.001) and INQ (index of nutrient quality) of thiamin (r = 0.22, p < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis showed that %RDA of niacin in obese group (R2 = 0.208, p = 0.001) and total subjects (R2 = 0.257, p = 0.000), MAR (p = 0.003) and INQ (p = 0.048) of niacin in obese group (R2 = 0.255) and MAR (p = 0.000) and INQ of Ca (p = 0.024) in total subjects (R2 = 0.231) may be important independent predictors to leptin level. MAR showed a significantly positive correlation with %fat (r = 0.42, p < 0.01), BMI (r = 0.46, p < 0.01), RW (r = 0.44, p < 0.01), WHR (r = 0.39, p < 0.01) and, %RDA (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). These data indicated relationships among leptin level, nutrient intake, %RDA, MAR, and INQ in children.

A Study of Dietary Behavior and Serum Leptin Levels in Obese Children: The Relationship between the Obesity Index and the Serum Leptin Levels Based on Eating Habits and Eating Behaviors / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among eating habits, eating behaviors, obesity indices and serum leptin levels of 97 school children in the Daegu and Kyungpuk areas. The subjects consisted of 42 boys and 55 girls from the 4th and 5th grades. The prevalence rate of obesity was 63.6% in the males and 36.4% in the females. The nutritional status of the subjects was assessed using 24-hour dietary recalls and blood analyses. The mean serum leptin levels of the obese group (12.84 +/- 6.97 ng/ml) were significantly higher than those of the non-obese group (2.43 +/- 1.53 ng/ml)(p < 0.001). The mean eating behavior scores and MAR were significantly different in the two groups. Nutrient intakes were low and fell short of the RDA. Serum leptin levels showed a significant negative correlation with eating habit (r = -0.24) and eating behavior scores (r = -0.40)(p < 0.05, p < 0.001). It was speculated that nutritional intervention and education about the appropriate nutrient intake requirements of developing children might be necessary.