title: Oxidative stress in childhood obesity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure products of free radical damage in childhood obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma free radicals were assayed in 24 children with exogenous obesity and 24 non-obese healthy controls. A new colorimetric method was used that measures the generation of peroxy radicals (D-Roms), first products of the reaction between free radicals and oxygen.
  
  
  RESULTS
  D-Roms levels were higher in the obese children than in the non-obese group (33.3+/-10.1 mg% of H2O2 vs 22.8+/-2.8 mg% of H2O2; p <0.001). Moreover, D-Roms levels were higher in children with hyperlipidemia than in children with normolipidemia (49.6+/-3.1 mg% of H2O2 vs 27.8+/-3.2 mg% of H2O2; p <0.001). D-Roms level was positively correlated with waist-hip ratio, serum total cholesterol, serum triglycerides, serum low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and fasting blood glucose in obese children. In a multivariate regression model for obese children, the independent correlates for D-Roms level were systolic blood pressure (p <0.001) and serum total cholesterol (p <0.001), with the total variance explained being 82%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrates for the first time that there was increased D-Roms levels in obese children and adolescents and suggests that increased systolic blood pressure associated with hyperlipidemia may independently contribute to increased oxidative stress in childhood obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Selcuk University, Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Turkey. meatabek@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mehmet Emre
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Atabek
authors.forename: Husamettin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vatansev
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Erkul
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001786:Blood Glucose; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005609:Free Radicals / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D005609:Free Radicals