Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Analysis (Interlab-UMU), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
Department of Physiology, University of Murcia, IMIB-Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain.
Clin Nutr. 2020 Aug;39(8):2471-2478. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2019.10.034. Epub 2019 Nov 7.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Epidemiological studies in school-age children are challenging, particularly those that aim to analyse metabolic markers on blood samples obtained via invasive and stressful procedures. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the use of saliva, as a non-invasive tool in epidemiological studies performed in school-age children, to capture metabolic changes associated with body mass index (BMI), dietary characteristics and physical activity in both boys and girls.
This is an observational study in which healthy children of ages between 8 and 12 years (n = 129, 60 girls and 69 boys) from three schools in a Mediterranean area of Spain were included. A panel of biomarkers was measured in serum and saliva and correlated with BMI, dietary characteristics and physical activity.
Significant positive correlation between serum and salivary levels were detected for CRP (r = 0.770) in all included children, and boys (r = 0.805) and girls (r = 0.775) separately (P < 0.001, in all cases) and for insulin in girls (r = 0.442; P < 0.05). Among all studied salivary biomarkers, insulin was significantly correlated with the three factors studied: positively with BMI and negatively with dietary characteristics (intake and composition) and physical activity (P < 0.05). Obesity and diet composition were both positively associated to pro-inflammatory biomarkers, CRP and IL1b; while diet composition shared with physical activity levels the correlation with IL6 (positive with energy, fat, carbohydrate and saturated fatty acid intake, and negative with cholesterol intake and average physical activity in boys), NGF and glucose (in both cases correlations were negative with diet composition and physical activity variables) (P < 0.05, in all cases). Sex differences were detected in serum glucose and TNFα.
Biomarkers in saliva are able to capture differences in BMI, dietary characteristics and physical activity levels in school-age children. Saliva may potentially constitute a useful non-invasive and stress-free tool to evaluate metabolic markers of inflammation and/or metabolism related to BMI and lifestyle in a sex-dependent manner.
在学龄儿童中进行流行病学研究具有挑战性，特别是那些旨在通过有创和压力较大的程序分析血液样本中的代谢标志物的研究。本文的目的是评估唾液作为一种非侵入性工具在学龄儿童中进行的流行病学研究中的应用，以捕捉与体重指数（BMI）、饮食特征和体力活动相关的代谢变化，无论男孩还是女孩均适用。
这是一项观察性研究，纳入了西班牙地中海地区三所学校的 129 名健康 8 至 12 岁儿童（60 名女孩和 69 名男孩）。测量了血清和唾液中的一组生物标志物，并与 BMI、饮食特征和体力活动相关联。
在所有纳入的儿童中，均检测到血清和唾液水平之间存在显著的正相关，CRP（r=0.770），男孩（r=0.805）和女孩（r=0.775）单独（P均<0.001），以及女孩的胰岛素（r=0.442；P<0.05）。在所研究的所有唾液生物标志物中，胰岛素与所研究的三个因素均呈显著相关：与 BMI 呈正相关，与饮食特征（摄入量和组成）和体力活动呈负相关（P<0.05）。肥胖和饮食组成均与促炎生物标志物 CRP 和 IL1b 呈正相关；而饮食组成与 IL6 水平（与能量、脂肪、碳水化合物和饱和脂肪酸摄入量呈正相关，与胆固醇摄入量和男孩平均体力活动呈负相关）、NGF 和葡萄糖（均与饮食组成和体力活动变量呈负相关）共享相关性（P<0.05，均如此）。血清葡萄糖和 TNFα 存在性别差异。
唾液中的生物标志物能够捕捉到学龄儿童 BMI、饮食特征和体力活动水平的差异。唾液可能是一种有用的非侵入性和无压力工具，可用于以性别依赖的方式评估与 BMI 和生活方式相关的炎症和/或代谢标志物。
