Role of salivary appetite regulatory hormones on childhood obesity and the impact of a diet based lifestyle intervention program on these hormones of obese children

Abstract

Appetite regulatory hormones are known to affect the development of childhood obesity by influencing food intake fat metabolism and gastrointestinal function The present study proposed to determine the role of salivary appetite regulatory hormones in childhood obesity and evaluate the impact of a diet based lifestyle intervention program on these hormones of obese children For the case control study that sought to ascertain the role of salivary appetite regulating hormones in childhood obesity a total of 166 children 83 obese and 83 non obese were recruited and assessed for their socio demographic information anthropometric and biochemical parameters Higher levels of the hormones insulin and leptin posed higher risks for childhood obesity followed by lower levels of adiponectin increasing the risk of childhood obesity In phase II of the study a total of 70 children were divided into the study group n equal to 35 and control group n equal to 35 using simple random sampling technique to participate in the COUNT intervention program The mean values of salivary ghrelin and adiponectin were found to be increasing in the study group after the program while the mean values of salivary leptin and insulin were found to be decreasing in the study group after the program A significant difference was observed in the mean ghrelin and adiponectin levels between the study and control groups after the program This study demonstrates the efficacy of saliva as a promising noninvasive tool in childhood obesity research and highlights the significance of appetite regulatory hormones as biomarkers of childhood obesity COUNT program has shown to be efficient in improving the anthropometric profile and salivary adipokines of obese children newline