Abstract
IntroductionBody composition in early life influences development of obesity during childhood and beyond. Appetite-regulating hormones (ARH) play a role in regulation of food intake and might thus influence body composition in later life. Studies on associations between ARH and body composition in early life are limited.MethodsIn 197 healthy term infants, we measured serum fasting levels of ghrelin, leptin, insulin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP), pancreatic polypeptide (PP) and peptide YY (PYY) at 3 months and in 41 infants also at 6 months and their associations with type of feeding and longitudinal fat mass percentage (FM%) measured by air displacement plethysmography at 1, 3 and 6 months and abdominal visceral and subcutaneous fat, measured by ultrasound, at 3 and 6 months.ResultsInfants with formula feeding for 3 months had significantly higher serum levels of ghrelin, leptin, insulin, GIP and PP (p = 0.026, p = 0.018, p = 0.002, p < 0.001, resp.) and lower serum levels of PYY (p = 0.002) at 3 months than breastfed infants. Leptin and ghrelin correlated positively with FM% at 3 months and insulin with change in FM% between 1 and 3 months (r = 0.40, p < 0.001, r = 0.23, p < 0.05, r = 0.22, p < 0.01, resp.). Leptin at 3 months correlated with subcutaneous fat at 3 months (r = 0.23, p < 0.001), but not with visceral fat. Other ARH did not correlate with body composition.ConclusionFormula-fed infants had a different profile of ARH than breastfed infants, suggesting that lower levels of ghrelin, leptin and insulin in breastfed infants contribute to the protective role of breastfeeding against obesity development. Leptin, ghrelin and insulin were associated with fat mass percentage or its changes.
Highlights
Body composition in early life influences development of obesity during childhood and beyond
Leptin, insulin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) and PP were significantly higher in the formula-fed group compared to the breastfed group (p = 0.026, p = 0.018, p = 0.002, p < 0.001, resp.), whereas peptide YY (PYY) was significantly lower (p = 0.002)
We found in the formula-fed infants a positive correlation between ghrelin at 3 months and fat mass (FM)% (r = 0.23, p < 0.05) at that age
Summary
Body composition in early life influences development of obesity during childhood and beyond. Appetite-regulating hormones (ARH) play a role in regulation of food intake and might influence body composition in later life. Childhood obesity is a worldwide problem with an increasing prevalence of 7–11 % in Dutch children aged 4–12 years [1]. It is associated with short-term morbidity, and associated with long-term morbidity, such as adult obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases [2,3,4]. Changes in body composition might be influenced by programming of the orexigenic and anorectic appetiteregulating hormones [10].
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