Serum leptin concentrations in children with mild protein-energy malnutrition and catch-up growth

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.

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.

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.

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.