Association between des-acyl ghrelin at fasting and predictive index of muscle derangement, metabolic markers and eating disorders: a cross-sectional study in overweight and obese adults.

This study aimed to analyse the impact of des-acyl and acyl ghrelin (AG) on a wide range of muscular and metabolic markers and in order to discover the possible relationships and interactions of des-acylated ghrelin (DAG) on eating disorders. A total of 88 subjects (64 women and 24 men, with a mean age of 43 years and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 30.20 ± 3.27 kg/m) were enrolled in the cross-sectional study. The findings showed that for each unit of increase of free fat mass index (FFMI), levels of DAG decreased by -41.11 pg/mL ( < 0.05). Moreover, similar associations with DAG were found for insulin ( = -30.67; < 0.001), leptin ( = -0.64; < 0.05), body weight ( = -14.36; < 0.001), and free fat mass (FFM) ( = -30.67; < 0.001). In addition, associations were found between DAG and resting energy expenditure (REE) ( = -0.84; = 0.05) and the binge eating scale (BES) in which a unit increase of the BES score Q3 (depression) correlated with a decrease of DAG levels ( = -9.98; = 0.08). Further, a unit increase of AG/DAG ratio correspond with an increase in body weight ( = 12.20; < 0.05), BMI ( = 4.70; < 0.05) and fat mass ( = 7.30; < 0.05). However, the AG/DAG ratio was not associated with FFMI ( = 2.61; = 0.165) and FFML/BMI ( = -0,064; = 0.625). This study suggests that higher levels of DAG at fasting are indices of poor muscle mass, insulin resistance and depression.