Staníková Daniela, Krajčovičová Lea, Demková Linda, Forišek-Paulová Petronela, Slobodová Lucia, Vitariušová Eva, Tichá Lubica, Ukropcová Barbara, Staník Juraj, Ukropec Jozef
Department of Pediatrics, Medical Faculty of Comenius University, National Institute for Children's Diseases, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Department of Metabolic Disease Research, Biomedical Research Center, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 22;13:962949. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.962949. eCollection 2022.
Thyroid hormones profoundly affect energy metabolism but their interrelation with food preference, which might contribute to childhood obesity development, are much less understood. In this study, we investigated if thyroid hormone levels are associated with specific modulation of food preference and potentially linked to the level of obesity in children and adolescents.
Interrelations between food preference and peripheral thyroid activity were examined in a population of 99 non-obese and 101 obese children and adolescents (12.8 ± 3.6 years of age, 111/89 F/M) randomly selected from the patients of the Obesity and Metabolic Disease Out-patient Research Unit at National Institute for Children's Diseases in Bratislava in a period between December 2017 and March 2020.
Children and adolescents with obesity had a lower preference for food rich in high sucrose and high-complex carbohydrates, while the preference for protein and fat-containing food and that for dietary fibers did not differ between obese and nonobese. In adolescents with obesity, free thyroxine (FT4) correlated positively with the preference for a high protein and high fat-rich diet, irrespective of the fatty acid unsaturation level. Moreover, FT4 correlated negatively with the preference for dietary fibers, which has been also exclusively found in obese adolescents. Individuals with obesity with higher FT4 levels had higher systemic levels of AST and ALT than the population with lower FT4. Multiple regression analysis with age, sex, BMI-SDS, and FT4 as covariates revealed that FT4 and male gender are the major predictors of variability in the preference for a diet high in protein, fat, and monounsaturated fatty acids. FT4 was the sole predictor of the preference for a diet containing saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids as well as for a diet low in fiber.
The link between free thyroxin levels and dietary preference for food rich in fat and protein is present exclusively in individuals with obesity. Higher serum FT4 was linked with elevated AST and ALT in children and adolescents with obesity, and FT4 was the best predictor for preference for food rich in fat and low in fiber. This may indicate that FT4 could contribute to the development of childhood obesity and its complications by modulating food preference.
甲状腺激素对能量代谢有深远影响，但其与食物偏好的相互关系却鲜为人知，而食物偏好可能会导致儿童肥胖。在本研究中，我们调查了甲状腺激素水平是否与食物偏好的特定调节相关，并可能与儿童和青少年的肥胖程度有关。
在2017年12月至2020年3月期间，从布拉迪斯拉发国立儿童疾病研究所肥胖与代谢疾病门诊研究单位的患者中随机选取了99名非肥胖儿童和青少年以及101名肥胖儿童和青少年（年龄12.8±3.6岁，男89名/女111名），研究食物偏好与外周甲状腺活动之间的相互关系。
肥胖儿童和青少年对富含高蔗糖和高复合碳水化合物的食物偏好较低，而肥胖组和非肥胖组对含蛋白质和脂肪食物以及膳食纤维的偏好没有差异。在肥胖青少年中，游离甲状腺素（FT4）与对高蛋白和高脂肪饮食的偏好呈正相关，与脂肪酸不饱和水平无关。此外，FT4与对膳食纤维的偏好呈负相关，这一现象也仅在肥胖青少年中发现。FT4水平较高的肥胖个体的AST和ALT全身水平高于FT4水平较低的人群。以年龄、性别、BMI-SDS和FT4作为协变量的多元回归分析显示，FT4和男性是高蛋白、高脂肪和单不饱和脂肪酸饮食偏好变异性的主要预测因素。FT4是对含饱和脂肪酸和多不饱和脂肪酸饮食以及低纤维饮食偏好的唯一预测因素。
游离甲状腺素水平与富含脂肪和蛋白质食物的饮食偏好之间的联系仅存在于肥胖个体中。较高的血清FT4与肥胖儿童和青少年的AST和ALT升高有关，并且FT4是对富含脂肪和低纤维食物偏好的最佳预测因素。这可能表明FT4通过调节食物偏好，可能导致儿童肥胖及其并发症的发生。
