Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Hematology, Rheumatology, Second Department of Internal Medicine), Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, 207 Uehara, Nishihara, Okinawa, 903-0215, Japan.
Department of Health Management, School of Health Studies, Tokai University, Kanagawa, Japan.
Eur J Pediatr. 2022 Nov;181(11):3879-3888. doi: 10.1007/s00431-022-04604-7. Epub 2022 Sep 13.
Childhood obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide and is largely the consequence of adoption of unhealthy diets excessive in calories and salt (NaCl) as well as devoid in pivotal micronutrients such as potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg). Education-based programs aiming to encourage healthy food knowledge and behaviors are crucial at a young age, and for this purpose, convenient ways to assess daily dietary intake are warranted. We therefore attempted to evaluate the dietary intake of Okinawan schoolchildren in Japan by analyzing a series of biomarkers in morning spot urine samples and explore whether these biomarkers correlate with body weight and a series of metabolic parameters. We enrolled 98 third-grade elementary schoolchildren in Okinawa, Japan. Morning spot urine samples were collected and analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to assess dietary intake. We found that estimated daily NaCl intake was higher in obese/overweight children as compared to healthy-weight children (p = 0.0001). There was also a significant positive correlation between body mass index (BMI) and NaCl intake (Spearman) (ρ = 0.45, p < 0.0001) and a negative correlation between BMI and Mg/Cr (ρ = -0.27, p = 0.01). Furthermore, Na/K ratio was higher in samples collected on Monday (weekend) as compared to samples collected on Thursday or Friday (weekday) (p < 0.0001).
Via the use of morning spot urine analyses, our results show that NaCl intake was associated with obesity, and Mg excretion negatively correlated with BMI in Japanese schoolchildren, highlighting the potential role of these micronutrients in maintaining a healthy body weight.
•Overweight and obesity are largely due to excessive consumption of calories and positively correlated with salt (NaCl) intake. •Spot urine methods are convenient for assessing the nutritional needs and targeting prevention programs in children.
•Utilizing morning spot urine analyses, estimated NaCl intake is positively correlated and Mg/Cr negatively correlated with BMI in Okinawan schoolchildren. •As estimated via morning spot urine samples, a greater proportion of children likely exceeds the recommended NaCl intake on the weekend as compared to weekday.
儿童肥胖症在全球范围内迅速增加，主要是由于采用了不健康的饮食，这些饮食中卡路里和盐（NaCl）含量过高，而关键微量营养素如钾（K）和镁（Mg）含量不足。旨在鼓励健康饮食知识和行为的基于教育的计划在儿童时期至关重要，为此，需要方便的方法来评估日常饮食摄入。因此，我们试图通过分析一系列早晨点尿样中的生物标志物来评估日本冲绳儿童的饮食摄入情况，并探讨这些生物标志物是否与体重和一系列代谢参数相关。
我们招募了日本冲绳的 98 名三年级小学生。收集早晨点尿样并使用高效液相色谱法（HPLC）进行分析，以评估饮食摄入。
我们发现，与健康体重儿童相比，肥胖/超重儿童的估计每日 NaCl 摄入量更高（p=0.0001）。BMI 与 NaCl 摄入量之间也存在显著正相关（Spearman）（ρ=0.45，p<0.0001），BMI 与 Mg/Cr 之间存在负相关（ρ=-0.27，p=0.01）。此外，与周四或周五（工作日）相比，周一（周末）采集的样本中 Na/K 比值更高（p<0.0001）。
通过使用早晨点尿分析，我们的结果表明，NaCl 摄入量与肥胖有关，日本学童的 Mg 排泄与 BMI 呈负相关，这突出了这些微量营养素在维持健康体重方面的潜在作用。
