HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hoffman, D. J Articles by Roberts, S. B Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hoffman, D. J Articles by Roberts, S. B Agricola Articles by Hoffman, D. J Articles by Roberts, S. B

Why are nutritionally stunted children at increased risk of obesity? Studies of metabolic rate and fat oxidation in shantytown children from São Paulo, Brazil^1,2,3

¹ From the Federal University of São Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brazil, and the Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston.

Background: Previous research suggested that nutritionally stunted children may have increased risk of obesity, but little is known about potential underlying mechanisms.

Objective: We sought to test the hypothesis that stunted children have a low metabolic rate and impaired fat oxidation relative to nonstunted children.

Design: The subjects were 58 prepubertal boys and girls aged 8–11 y from the shantytowns of São Paulo, Brazil. Twenty-eight were stunted (height-for-age z score <-1.5) and 30 had similar weight-for-height but normal height (height-for-age z score >-1.5). Parents of children in the 2 groups had equivalent height and body mass index values. Fasting and postprandial energy expenditure, respiratory quotient (RQ), and substrate oxidation were measured with indirect calorimetry in a 3-d resident study in which all food was provided and body composition was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Results: Stunted children had normal resting energy expenditure relative to body composition compared with control children (4559 ± 90 and 4755 ± 86 kJ/d, respectively; P = 0.14) and had normal postprandial thermogenesis (2.4 ± 0.3% and 2.0 ± 0.3% of meal load, respectively; P = 0.42). However, fasting RQ was significantly higher in the stunted group (0.92 ± 0.009 compared with 0.89 ± 0.007; P = 0.04) and consequently, fasting fat oxidation was significantly lower (25 ± 2% compared with 34 ± 2% of energy expenditure; P < 0.01).

Conclusions: Childhood nutritional stunting is associated with impaired fat oxidation, a factor that predicted obesity in other at-risk populations. This finding may help explain recent increases in body fatness and the prevalence of obesity among stunted adults and adolescents in developing countries.

Key Words: Fat oxidation • obesity • stunting • energy expenditure • children • metabolic rate • respiratory quotient • malnutrition • undernutrition • Brazil

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. R. M. P. da Luz Glucose as the sole metabolic fuel: a study on the possible influence of teachers' knowledge on the establishment of a misconception among Brazilian high school students Advan Physiol Educ, September 1, 2008; 32(3): 225 - 230. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Bogin Commentary: Proportion not the cause of beauty but of health? Int. J. Epidemiol., December 1, 2006; 35(6): 1542 - 1543. [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Forbes, S. Robinson, J. Dungu, V. Anyaoku, P. Bannister, D. Forster, S. Dissanayake, M. I McCarthy, I. A MacDonald, S. Venkatesan, et al. Sustained endogenous glucose production, diminished lipolysis and non-esterified fatty acid appearance and oxidation in non-obese women at high risk of type 2 diabetes Eur. J. Endocrinol., September 1, 2006; 155(3): 469 - 476. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. das Neves, P. A. Martins, R. Sesso, and A. L. Sawaya Malnourished Children Treated in Day-Hospital or Outpatient Clinics Exhibit Linear Catch-Up and Normal Body Composition J. Nutr., March 1, 2006; 136(3): 648 - 655. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. J. Hoffman and S.-K. Lee The Prevalence of Wasting, but Not Stunting, Has Improved in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea J. Nutr., March 1, 2005; 135(3): 452 - 456. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. J. Hoffman Upper Limits in Developing Countries: Warning Against Too Much in Lands of Too Little J. Am. Coll. Nutr., December 1, 2004; 23(suppl_6): 610S - 615S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y.-J. Jin, S.-Z. Li, Z.-S. Zhao, J. J. An, R. Y. Kim, Y. M. Kim, J.-H. Baik, and S.-K. Lim Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT-1) Activity Stimulation by Cerulenin via Sympathetic Nervous System Activation Overrides Cerulenin's Peripheral Effect Endocrinology, July 1, 2004; 145(7): 3197 - 3204. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Caballero Introduction J. Nutr., March 1, 2001; 131(3): 866S - 870. [Abstract] [Full Text]