Association between circulating CCL2 levels and modifiable behaviors in overweight and obese adolescents: a...

We evaluated the relationship between an early inflammatory biomarker, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), and other clinical biomarkers and lifestyle behaviors, in overweight/obese adolescents at high risk of developing cardiometabolic derangements.

We collected anthropometric measurements, clinical biomarkers, and three 24-h dietary recalls from 21 vocational high school students (91% male), 14-19 years, with body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2. Pearson's or Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to examine relationships.

Mean BMI was 33.2 kg/m2 (range 25.7-45.6) and 38% were prediabetic by fasting glucose. Mean CCL2 was 512.9 pg/mL (range 220-917) and positively correlated with triglycerides (r=0.45; p=0.04) and TNF-α (r=0.57; p=0.007) and marginally negatively correlated with fruit/vegetable intake (r=-0.42, p=0.06) and omega-3 fatty acids (r=-0.41, p=0.07).

CCL2 was positively associated with pro-inflammatory biomarkers and negatively associated with some anti-inflammatory dietary factors.