Abstract
Background/Objectives:
The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between inflammatory parameters (CRP, c-reactive protein; AGP, α1-acid glycoprotein), iron status indicators (SF, serum ferritin; sTfR, soluble transferrin receptor) and body mass index (BMI) z-score, fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) in European adolescents. Differences in intake for some nutrients (total iron, haem and non-haem iron, vitamin C, calcium, proteins) were assessed according to BMI categories, and the association of nutrient intakes with BMI z-score, FM and FFM was evaluated.
Methods:
A total of 876 adolescents participating in the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence-Cross Sectional Study were included in the study sample.
Results:
Mean CRP values (standard error; s.e.) were significantly higher in overweight/obese adolescents (1.7±0.3 and 1.4±0.3 mg/l in boys and girls, respectively) than in thin/normal-weight adolescents (1.1±0.2 and 1.0±0.1 mg/l in boys and girls, respectively) (P<0.05). For boys, mean SF values (s.e.) were significantly higher in overweight/obese adolescents (46.9±2.7 μg/l) than in thin/normal-weight adolescents (35.7±1.7 μg/l) (P<0.001), whereas median sTfR values did not differ among BMI categories for both boys and girls. Multilevel regression analyses showed that BMI z-score and FM were significantly related to CRP and AGP (P<0.05). Dietary variables did not differ significantly among BMI categories, except for the intake of vegetable proteins, which, for boys, was higher in thin/normal-weight adolescents than in overweight/obese adolescents (P<0.05).
Conclusions:
The adiposity of the European adolescents was sufficient to cause chronic inflammation but not sufficient to impair iron status and cause iron deficiency.
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Acknowledgements
The HELENA Study has taken place with the financial support of the European Community Sixth RTD Framework Programme (Contract FOOD-CT-2005–007034). Additional support was obtained from the Spanish Ministry of Education (AGL2007-29784-E/ALI; AP-2005-3827; AP-2008-03806). Jara Valtueña was financially supported by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Augusto César F. de Moraes was given scholarship from São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP (proc. 2011/11137-1 and 2011/20662-2). Luis A. Moreno was given scholarship of visiting professor from Brazilian government by Science without Borders Program by CNPq (National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development) and CAPES (Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) (proc. 007/2012). The content of this article reflects only the authors’ views, and the European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. We thank all adolescents who participated in the study. We also thank Lorenza Mistura for her assistance in the statistical analysis.
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The content of this paper reflects only the authors’ view and the rest of HELENA Study members are not responsible for it. The writing group takes sole responsibility for the content of this article.
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Appendix
Appendix
**Helena Study Group
Co-ordinator: Luis A. Moreno
Core Group members: Luis A. Moreno, Fréderic Gottrand, Stefaan De Henauw, Marcela González-Gross, Chantal Gilbert.
Steering Committee: Anthony Kafatos (President), Luis A. Moreno, Christian Libersa, Stefaan De Henauw, Jackie Sáchez, Fréderic Gottrand, Mathilde Kesting, Michael Sjostrom, Dénes Molnár, Marcela González-Gross, Jean Dallongeville, Chantal Gilbert, Gunnar Hall, Lea Maes, Luca Scalfi.
Project Manager: Pilar Meléndez
1. Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain): Luis A. Moreno, Jesús Fleta, José A. Casajús, Gerardo Rodríguez, Concepción Tomás, María I. Mesana, Germán Vicente-Rodríguez, Adoración Villarroya, Carlos M. Gil, Ignacio Ara, Juan Revenga, Carmen Lachen, Juan Fernández Alvira, Gloria Bueno, Aurora Lázaro, Olga Bueno, Juan F. León, Jesús Mª Garagorri, Manuel Bueno, Juan Pablo Rey López, Iris Iglesia, Paula Velasco, Silvia Bel.
2. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain): Ascensión Marcos, Julia Wärnberg, Esther Nova, Sonia Gómez, Esperanza Ligia Díaz, Javier Romeo, Ana Veses, Mari Angeles Puertollano, Belén Zapatera, Tamara Pozo.
3. Université de Lille 2 (France): Laurent Beghin, Christian Libersa, Frédéric Gottrand, Catalina Iliescu, Juliana Von Berlepsch.
4. Research Institute of Child Nutrition Dortmund, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (Germany): Mathilde Kersting, Wolfgang Sichert-Hellert, Ellen Koeppen.
5. Pécsi Tudományegyetem (University of Pécs) (Hungary): Dénes Molnar, Eva Erhardt, Katalin Csernus, Katalin Török, Szilvia Bokor, Mrs. Angster, Enikö Nagy, Orsolya Kovács, Judit Repásy.
6. University of Crete School of Medicine (Greece): Anthony Kafatos, Caroline Codrington, María Plada, Angeliki Papadaki, Katerina Sarri, Anna Viskadourou, Christos Hatzis, Michael Kiriakakis, George Tsibinos, Constantine Vardavas Manolis Sbokos, Eva Protoyeraki, Maria Fasoulaki.
7. Institut für Ernährungs- und Lebensmittelwissenschaften –Ernährungphysiologie. Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universität (Germany): Peter Stehle, Klaus Pietrzik, Marcela González-Gross, Christina Breidenassel, Andre Spinneker, Jasmin Al-Tahan, Miriam Segoviano, Anke Berchtold, Christine Bierschbach, Erika Blatzheim, Adelheid Schuch, Petra Pickert.
8. University of Granada (Spain): Manuel J. Castillo, Ángel Gutiérrez, Francisco B. Ortega, Jonatan R Ruiz, Enrique G. Artero, Vanesa España-Romero, David Jiménez-Pavón, Palma Chillón, Magdalena Cuenca-Garcia.
9. Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione (Italy): Davide Arcella, Elena Azzini, Emma Barrison, Noemi Bevilacqua, Pasquale Buonocore, Giovina Catasta, Laura Censi, Donatella Ciarapica, Paola D’Acapito, Marika Ferrari, Myriam Galfo, Cinzia Le Donne, Catherine Leclercq, Giuseppe Maiani, Beatrice Mauro, Lorenza Mistura, Antonella Pasquali, Raffaela Piccinelli, Angela Polito, Raffaella Spada, Stefania Sette, Maria Zaccaria.
10. University of Napoli ‘Federico II’ Dept of Food Science (Italy): Luca Scalfi, Paola Vitaglione, Concetta Montagnese.
11. Ghent University (Belgium): Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij, Stefaan De Henauw, Tineke De Vriendt, Lea Maes, Christophe Matthys, Carine Vereecken, Mieke de Maeyer, Charlene Ottevaere, Inge Huybrechts.
12. Medical University of Vienna (Austria): Kurt Widhalm, Katharina Phillipp, Sabine Dietrich.
13. Harokopio University (Greece): Yannis Manios, Eva Grammatikaki, Zoi Bouloubasi, Tina Louisa Cook, Sofia Eleutheriou, Orsalia Consta, George Moschonis, Ioanna Katsaroli, George Kraniou, Stalo Papoutsou, Despoina Keke, Ioanna Petraki, Elena Bellou, Sofia Tanagra, Kostalenia Kallianoti, Dionysia Argyropoulou, Katerina Kondaki, Stamatoula Tsikrika, Christos Karaiskos.
14. Institut Pasteur de Lille (France): Jean Dallongeville, Aline Meirhaeghe.
15. Karolinska Institutet (Sweden): Michael Sjöstrom, Patrick Bergman, María Hagströmer, Lena Hallström, Mårten Hallberg, Eric Poortvliet, Julia Wärnberg, Nico Rizzo, Linda Beckman, Anita Hurtig Wennlöf, Emma Patterson, Lydia Kwak, Lars Cernerud, Per Tillgren, Stefaan Sörensen.
16. Asociación de Investigación de la Industria Agroalimentaria (Spain): Jackie Sánchez-Molero, Elena Picó, Maite Navarro, Blanca Viadel, José Enrique Carreres, Gema Merino, Rosa Sanjuán, María Lorente, María José Sánchez, Sara Castelló.
17. Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association (United Kingdom): Chantal Gilbert, Sarah Thomas, Elaine Allchurch, Peter Burgess.
18. SIK—Institutet foer Livsmedel och Bioteknik (Sweden): Gunnar Hall, Annika Astrom, Anna Sverkén, Agneta Broberg.
19. Meurice Recherche & Development asbl (Belgium): Annick Masson, Claire Lehoux, Pascal Brabant, Philippe Pate, Laurence Fontaine.
20. Campden & Chorleywood Food Development Institute (Hungary): Andras Sebok, Tunde Kuti, Adrienn Hegyi.
21. Productos Aditivos SA (Spain): Cristina Maldonado, Ana Llorente.
22. Cárnicas Serrano SL (Spain): Emilio García.
23. Cederroth International AB (Sweden): Holger von Fircks, Marianne Lilja Hallberg, Maria Messerer.
24. Lantmännen Food R&D (Sweden): Mats Larsson, Helena Fredriksson, Viola Adamsson, Ingmar Börjesson.
25. European Food Information Council (Belgium): Laura Fernández, Laura Smillie, Josephine Wills.
26. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain): Marcela González-Gross, Jara Valtueña, David Jiménez-Pavón, Ulrike Albers, Raquel Pedrero, Agustín Meléndez, Pedro J. Benito, Juan José Gómez Lorente, David Cañada, Alejandro Urzanqui, Juan Carlos Ortiz, Francisco Fuentes, Rosa María Torres, Paloma Navarro.
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Ferrari, M., Cuenca-García, M., Valtueña, J. et al. Inflammation profile in overweight/obese adolescents in Europe: an analysis in relation to iron status. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 247–255 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.154
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.154
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