Objective: Obesity and malnutrition are the main nutritional problems of childhood. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) is a well-known cytokine with effects on adipose tissue. In this study relative body mass index (RBMI) and serum TNFalpha levels were compared in obese and malnourished children, and hyperinsulinism was evaluated in the obese children.
Subjects and methods: Thirty-four children of whom 14 (9 M, 5 F) were obese, 10 (5 M, 5 F) were malnourished and 10 (4 M, 6 F) constituted the control group were evaluated. RBMI was used to define the groups according to the formula: patient's BMI/predicted BMI x 100. Mean RBMI values were 148.7 +/- 26, 77.6 +/- 4.63, and 100 +/- 8.2 in the obese, malnourished and control group, respectively. Mean ages of the obese, malnourished and control children were 9.75 +/- 2.59, 12.3 +/- 1.86 and 12.4 +/- 1.3 years, respectively.
Results: Higher serum TNFalpha levels were found in the obese children (20.94 +/- 0.38 pg/ml) in comparison with the control group (2.97 +/- 0.05 pg/ml) (p <0.001). Mean TNFalpha level in the malnourished group was 2.77 +/- 0.04 pg/ml, not statistically different from the control group (p >0.05). TNFalpha concentrations of the hyperinsulinemic and normoinsulinemic obese patients were not significantly different (p >0.05).
Conclusion: We showed higher levels of serum TNFalpha in obese children. Increased TNFalpha levels do not always reflect hyperinsulinism. There was no difference in TNFalpha levels between the controls and the malnourished group.