Early life programming of abdominal adiposity in adolescents: The HELENA Study.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between birth weight and abdominal adiposity in adolescents.


METHODS
A total of 284 adolescents (49.3% of whom were female) aged 14.9 +/- 1.2 years were included in the study. Birth weight and gestational age were obtained from parental records. Abdominal adiposity (in three regions: R1, R2, and R3) and trunk and total body fat mass were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Regional fat mass indexes (FMIs) were thereafter calculated as fat mass divided by the square of height (Trunk FMI and abdominal FMI R1, R2, and R3).


RESULTS
Birth weight was negatively associated with abdominal FMI R1, R2, and R3 independently of total fat mass, gestational age, sex, breast-feeding duration, pubertal stage, physical activity, and socioeconomic status (all P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows an inverse association between birth weight and abdominal adiposity in adolescents independently of total fat mass and other potential confounders. These findings suggest that fetal nutrition, as reflected by birth weight, may have a programming effect on abdominal adiposity later in life.
Labayen
Idoia
I
Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of the Basque Country, Vitoria, Spain. idoia.labayen@ehu.es
Ruiz
Jonatan R
JR
Vicente-Rodríguez
Germán
G
Turck
Dominique
D
Rodríguez
Gerardo
G
Meirhaeghe
Aline
A
Molnár
Denes
D
Sjöström
Michael
M
Castillo
Manuel J
MJ
Gottrand
Frederic
F
Moreno
Luis A
LA
D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000293:Adolescent; D001724:Birth Weight; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology