Chen Zhiyuan, Zhang Yuanfeng, Shi Jianyou
Department of Pediatrics, The Wenzhou Third Clinical Institute Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, 325000, P.R. China.
Department of Pediatrics, Wenzhou People's Hospital, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, 325000, P.R. China.
BMC Pediatr. 2025 Aug 10;25(1):617. doi: 10.1186/s12887-025-05983-0.
Our study aimed to investigate the link between serum carotenoids and obesity in a large, representative children and adolescents.
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2018. The impact of individual exposure to six serum carotenoids (α-carotene, β-carotene, α-cryptoxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, combined lutein/zeaxanthin, and total lycopene) on adiposity measures, including BMI and obesity, was assessed through survey-weighted logistic and linear regression models. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression was adopted to estimate the effect of exposure to a combination of six serum carotenoids on adiposity measures.
Our study included 1,329 child and adolescent participants (mean age 12.84 years, 50.11% male). The overall mean BMI was 22.03 kg/m² (SE = 0.16), with 324 participants (24.39%) classified as obese. After adjusting for potential confounders, higher levels of all serum carotenoids (α-carotene, β-carotene, α-cryptoxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, and combined lutein/zeaxanthin) except lycopene were associated with lower BMI and prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents. In addition, there was a negative correlation between the combination of all six carotenoids and BMI (β=-1.56, 95% CI: -1.95, -1.16, P < 0.01) and obesity (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.60, P < 0.01), with β-carotene having the greatest weighting in body mass index and prevalence of obesity, 0.708 and 0.709.
Our study provides evidence that serum carotenoids, in particular β-carotene, may be associated with a lower prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents.
我们的研究旨在调查在具有代表性的大量儿童和青少年中血清类胡萝卜素与肥胖之间的联系。
我们使用2017 - 2018年国家健康与营养检查调查的数据进行了横断面分析。通过调查加权逻辑回归和线性回归模型，评估个体暴露于六种血清类胡萝卜素（α-胡萝卜素、β-胡萝卜素、α-隐黄质、β-隐黄质、叶黄素/玉米黄质组合以及总番茄红素）对肥胖指标（包括BMI和肥胖）的影响。采用加权分位数和（WQS）回归来估计暴露于六种血清类胡萝卜素组合对肥胖指标的影响。
我们的研究纳入了1329名儿童和青少年参与者（平均年龄12.84岁，50.11%为男性）。总体平均BMI为22.03kg/m²（标准误=0.16），324名参与者（24.39%）被归类为肥胖。在调整潜在混杂因素后，除番茄红素外，所有血清类胡萝卜素（α-胡萝卜素、β-胡萝卜素、α-隐黄质、β-隐黄质和叶黄素/玉米黄质组合）水平较高与儿童和青少年较低的BMI及肥胖患病率相关。此外，所有六种类胡萝卜素的组合与BMI（β=-1.56，95%置信区间：-1.95，-1.16，P<0.01）和肥胖（OR=0.48，95%置信区间：0.39，0.60，P<0.01）之间存在负相关，其中β-胡萝卜素在体重指数和肥胖患病率中的权重最大，分别为0.708和0.709。
我们的研究提供了证据表明血清类胡萝卜素，尤其是β-胡萝卜素，可能与儿童和青少年较低的肥胖患病率相关。
