Abstract
Background
: The aim of the present study was to clarify the relationship between changing nutritional anthropometric data and serum leptin concentrations during the catch‐up growth process in children.
Methods
: Thirty children with mild protein‐energy malnutrition (PEM) were followed for 6 months and their anthropometric measurements and serum leptin concentrations were recorded during follow up.
Results
: Twenty‐two (73.3%) of the 30 children showed catch‐up growth. All parameters and serum leptin concentrations increased during the period of catch‐up growth. In the remaining eight children, weight for height, percentage standard body mass index, percentage standard body height and mean serum leptin concentrations did not show any significant increase at the 6 month follow‐up. Mean serum leptin concentration was higher in children with catch‐up growth than in the controls.
Conclusion
: During recovery from malnutrition, leptin concentrations increase in relation to fat mass if the fat mass reaches a critical point, and leptin might trigger catch‐up growth with its regulator effects on growth. Although weight gain was noted in both groups, an increase in leptin concentration was observed only in children who showed catch‐up growth. More interestingly, the mean leptin concentration was much higher in children with PEM who had catch‐up growth compared to the control group and in children who failed to have catch‐up growth. In children with catch‐up growth, the higher serum leptin concentrations compared to healthy children and to children without catch‐up growth despite significant weight gain suggests that leptin affects nutritional status in catch‐up growth as a dynamic process, rather than merely being an index of body fat content.
