Overweight and Obesity-Induced Oxidative Stress in Children

Key words: 
• Antioxidant /
• Antioxidative enzyme /
• Free radicals /
• Lipid Oxidation /
• Malondialdehyde /
• Obesity /
• Overweight /
• Oxidative stress

Abstract: Objective To investigate whether overweight and obesity might cause oxidative stress and potential oxidative damage in overweight and obese children, and to explore its possible mechanism. Methods Eighty-five overweight and obese children(OOC), and eighty-five age-matched healthy children (HC) were recruited in this case-control study. The present study analyzed spectrophotometrically vitamin C (VC), vitamin E (VE), and β-carotene (β-CAR) in plasma, as well as the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in erythrocytes. Results Compared with those of VC, VE, β-CAR, SOD, CAT and MDA in the HC group, the average values of VC, VE, β-CAR, SOD, and CAT in the OOC group were significantly decreased (P＜0.001), while the average value of MDA in the OOC group was significantly increased (P＜0.001). The regression analysis demonstrated that VC, VE, β-CAR, SOD, and CAT were negatively correlated (P＜0.05-0.01), and MDA was positively correlated with BMI (P＜0.05). Fitting to the model of multiple stepwise regression of BMI on VC, VE, β-CAR, SOD, CAT, and MDA in 85 OOC was Y = 27.0041 + 0.2541MDA - 2.1448β-CAR - 0.0090CAT, where F =43.8088, P＜0.001, r= 0.7866, r2= 0.6187, adjusted r2= 0.6046. The findings from the reliability analysis for VC, VE, β-CAR, SOD, CAT, and MDA used to reflect increased oxidative stress and potential oxidative damage in the OOC showed that the reliability coefficients (alpha, 6 items) = 0.7231, P＜0.0001, and that the standardized item alpha = 0.9207, P＜0.0001. Conclusion The present study suggests that there exists an increased oxidative stress in overweight and obese children.