title: Early life programming of abdominal adiposity in adolescents: The HELENA Study.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of the Basque Country, Vitoria, Spain. idoia.labayen@ehu.es
authors.forename: Idoia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Labayen
authors.forename: Jonatan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Germán
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vicente-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Turck
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meirhaeghe
authors.forename: Denes
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Molnár
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sjöström
authors.forename: Manuel J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gottrand
authors.forename: Luis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Moreno
mesh_terms: 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