Abstract
Background
Obesity is often associated with iron deficiency in children and adolescents. We aimed to study the effect of an 8-month physical exercise (PE) intervention on hepcidin and other markers of inflammation and on iron status in overweight/obese children and adolescents.
Methods
Seventy-three overweight/obese children and adolescents participated in the 8-month-long longitudinal study. They were divided into two groups according to their participation in an after-school PE program: the PE group (n=44) and the control group (n=29). Hepcidin, interleukin (IL)-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), iron, ferritin, transferrin, and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) were evaluated.
Results
At baseline, IL-6 correlated positively with hepcidin and negatively with iron and transferrin saturation, suggesting that increasing adiposity associates with increasing IL-6 and hepcidin synthesis, reducing iron availability. After 8 months, the PE group showed a decrease in BMI z-score (P=0.003), body fat mass (P=0.012), CRP (P=0.002), IL-6 (P=0.048), ferritin (P=0.013), hepcidin (P=0.040), and sTfR (P=0.010), and an increase in iron concentration (P=0.002). Moreover, the PE group, when compared with the control group, showed lower weight (P=0.026), BMI (P=0.040), waist circumference (P=0.010), and waist-to-height ratio (P=0.046).
Conclusion
We showed that an 8-month-long intervention at school allowed a reduction in BMI z-score and an improvement in inflammation, reducing hepcidin levels and the disturbances in iron status.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, Europe) funds through the Operational Competitiveness Programme (COMPETE, Portugal), and by National Funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) under the project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028613 (PTDC/DTP-DES/0393/2012).
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Coimbra, S., Catarino, C., Nascimento, H. et al. Physical exercise intervention at school improved hepcidin, inflammation, and iron metabolism in overweight and obese children and adolescents. Pediatr Res 82, 781–788 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2017.139
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2017.139
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