Obesity Is Associated with Oxidative Stress Markers and Antioxidant Enzyme Activity in Mexican Children

The relationship between metabolic disorders and oxidative stress is still controversial in the child population. The present cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the associations between obesity, cardiometabolic traits, serum level of carbonylated proteins (CPs), malondialdehyde (MDA), and the enzyme activity of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in children from Mexico City (normal weight: 120; obesity: 81). Obesity resulted in being positively associated with CAT (β = 0.05 ± 0.01, p = 5.0 × 10^-3) and GPx (β = 0.13 ± 0.01, p = 3.7 × 10^-19) enzyme activity. A significant interaction between obesity and sex was observed in MDA and SOD enzymatic activity (P = 0.03; P_SOD = 0.04). The associations between obesity, MDA level, and SOD enzyme activity were only significant in boys (boys: P = 3.0 × 10^-3; P = 7.0 × 10^-3; girls: p ≥ 0.79). In both children with normal weight and those with obesity, CP levels were positively associated with SOD enzyme activity (P = 2.2 × 10^-3; P 0.03). In conclusion, in Mexican children, obesity is positively associated with CAT and GPx enzyme activity, and its associations with MDA levels and SOD enzyme activity are sex-specific. Therefore, CP level is positively related to SOD enzyme activity independently of body weight.