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[Association between feeding behavior, and genetic polymorphism of leptin and its receptor in obese Chilean children]
Macarena Valladares1, Ana María Obregón2, Gerardo Weisstaub3
1Dirección de Investigación y Relaciones Internacionales. Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins, Santiago, Chile. Departamento de Nutrición, Diabetes y Metabolismo. Facultad de Medicina. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. mvalladaresvega@gmail.com.
Introduction:
Leptin (LEP) is mainly produced in adipose tissue and acts in the hypothalamus to regulate energy intake. Mutations in the LEP gene or its receptor (LEPR) that produce monogenic obesity are infrequent. However, LEP and LEPR polymorphisms have been associated with obesity multifactorial, due to the association found with body weight and eating behavior.
Aim:
Measure the association between LEP and LEPR polymorphisms with childhood obesity and eating behavior.
Methods:
221 Chilean obese children (BMI above the 95th percentile) were recruited. Parents of 134 of these children were also recruited to determine the association between LEP and LEPR polymorphisms with obesity in a case study-parent trio. Eating behavior was measured through the questionnaire of three factors progenitors' version (TFEQ-P19) and eating behavior in children (CEBQ).
Results:
No significant difference between the studied polymorphisms and childhood obesity, after correction for multiple comparisons, was observed. The dimensions; "Slow eating", "emotional eating", "enjoyment of food" and "uncontrolling eating" were significant associated with certain polymorphisms of LEP and LEPR.
Conclusions:
There would be an association between polymorphisms of the LEP and LEPR genes with eating behavior in Chilean obese children.
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