title: Changes in ghrelin and obestatin levels before and after a meal in children with simple obesity and anorexia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obestatin and ghrelin both have effects on the hypothalamus which controls food intake. We hypothesize that the circulating levels of obestatin and ghrelin may change after a meal and might be different between obesity and anorexia, which might be relevant to anorexia or obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen children with obesity, 25 children with anorexia and 17 normal-weight healthy controls were enrolled in the study. The preprandial and postprandial glucose, insulin, total ghrelin and obestatin tests were completed in the three groups. The values of these indices were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The obesity group had the highest values for BMI and fasting glucose (p < 0.001), while the anorexia group had the highest values for obestatin and ghrelin, followed by the control and obesity groups. No differences in ratios of ghrelin to obestatin were found between the anorexia and obesity groups (p > 0.05), but both were higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). BMI was negatively correlated with preprandial obestatin (r = -0.8413, p < 0.001) and ghrelin (r = -0.7400, p < 0.001), but showed no significant correlations with the ghrelin-to-obestatin ratio.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there is still controversy between the present and previous studies, the present study show that levels of obestatin and ghrelin are inversely correlated with BMI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Chuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Zhang Hui
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Kang Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000855:Anorexia / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004435:Eating; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D019518:Postprandial Period
chemical_list: D054439:Ghrelin; C505799:obestatin, human