Early Life Programming of Abdominal Adiposity in Adolescents: The HELENA Study
- Idoia Labayen, PHD1,
- Jonatan R. Ruiz, PHD2,
- Germán Vicente-Rodríguez, PHD3,4,
- Dominique Turck, MD5,
- Gerardo Rodríguez, MD3,6,
- Aline Meirhaeghe, PHD7,
- Denes Molnár, PHD8,
- Michael Sjöström, MD2,
- Manuel J. Castillo, MD9,
- Frederic Gottrand, MD5,
- Luis A. Moreno, MD3 and
- on behalf of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) Study Group*
- 1Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of the Basque Country, Vitoria, Spain;
- 2Unit for Preventive Nutrition, the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition at NOVUM, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden;
- 3University School of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain;
- 4Department of Physiotherapy and Nursing, University of Zaragoza, Huesca, Spain;
- 5Department of Medicine, University of Lille, and Department of Pediatrics, Jeanne de Flandre Children's University Hospital, Lille, France;
- 6Department of Pediatrics, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, and the Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud, Zaragoza, Spain;
- 7INSERM, U744, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Lille, France;
- 8Department of Pediatrics, University of Pecs, Pécs-József, Hungary;
- 9Department of Medical Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
- Corresponding author: Idoia Labayen, idoia.labayen{at}ehu.es.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between birth weight and abdominal adiposity in adolescents.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 284 adolescents (49.3% of whom were female) aged 14.9 ± 1.2 years were included in the study. Birth weight and gestational age were obtained from parental records. Abdominal adiposity (in three regions: R1, R2, and R3) and trunk and total body fat mass were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Regional fat mass indexes (FMIs) were thereafter calculated as fat mass divided by the square of height (Trunk FMI and abdominal FMI R1, R2, and R3).
RESULTS Birth weight was negatively associated with abdominal FMI R1, R2, and R3 independently of total fat mass, gestational age, sex, breast-feeding duration, pubertal stage, physical activity, and socioeconomic status (all P < 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS Our study shows an inverse association between birth weight and abdominal adiposity in adolescents independently of total fat mass and other potential confounders. These findings suggest that fetal nutrition, as reflected by birth weight, may have a programming effect on abdominal adiposity later in life.
Footnotes
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↵*A list of the researchers of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) Study Group is available at http://www.helenastudy.com/list.php.
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The writing group takes the sole responsibility for the contents of this article. The contents of this article reflect only the authors' views; the European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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- Received May 30, 2009.
- Accepted July 15, 2009.
- © 2009 by the American Diabetes Association.
