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Effect of body mass index reduction on serum hepcidin levels and iron status in obese children

International Journal of Obesity volume 34, pages 1772–1774 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Iron deficiency has been linked to obesity. Hepcidin is the main regulator of iron homeostasis and is higher in obese children compared to controls. To gain insight into the link between obesity and hepcidin, we performed an intervention study in 15 obese children. These children were subjected to a 6-month weight loss program and underwent physical examination and iron status and absorption as well as hepcidin, interleukin-6 and leptin serum levels evaluation at baseline and after the weight loss program. After the program all children reduced their body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) of at least 0.5. We observed a significant decrease in hepcidin (P=0.003) and leptin levels (P=0.005), and a significant increase in iron absorption (P=0.02). A direct correlation between the measure of hepcidin and leptin reduction was observed and this correlation appeared significant (r2=0.33, P=0.003) when adjusted for interleukin-6 and BMI SDS variations. In conclusion, we have shown that, in obese children, BMI reduction is associated with hepcidin reduction, potentially improving iron status and absorption. Implications of these findings could be considered in the management of obese children with poor iron status.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grant from Ministero dell’Università, PRIN 06/08 (to LP and EMDG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics ‘F. Fede’, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Napoli, Italy

    A Amato, N Santoro, A Grandone, L Perrone & E Miraglia del Giudice

  2. Division of Cardiology, Second University of Naples–A.O. Monaldi, Napoli, Italy

    P Calabrò

  3. Department of Laboratory Medicine (441), Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    D W Swinkels

  4. Hepcidinanalysis.com, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    D W Swinkels

Authors
  1. A Amato
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  2. N Santoro
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  3. P Calabrò
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  4. A Grandone
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  5. D W Swinkels
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  6. L Perrone
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  7. E Miraglia del Giudice
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E Miraglia del Giudice.

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Competing interests

The authors have nothing to disclose with the exception of DWS who is a co-founder and medical director of the ‘Hepcidinanalysis.com’, an initiative that aims to serve the scientific and medical community with high-quality hepcidin-25 measurements.

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Amato, A., Santoro, N., Calabrò, P. et al. Effect of body mass index reduction on serum hepcidin levels and iron status in obese children. Int J Obes 34, 1772–1774 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2010.204

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