A new type of blood test that uses lipids could make it easier to identify children at risk of obesity-related problems including type 2 diabetes, liver disease and heart disease, say scientists.
A new study from King’s College London published in Natural Medicine reveals a new link between lipids and metabolic diseases in children, which may serve as a warning system for conditions such as liver disease.
Using machines that analyze the blood plasma of babies who are already in hospitals, the researchers suggest that this could help doctors see the early signs of death in children early and help them find the right treatment.
The findings also challenge the common belief that cholesterol is the main cause of obesity-related problems in children, identifying new lipid molecules that contribute to health risks such as high blood pressure but are unrelated just the weight of the child.
Lipids have traditionally been thought of as fatty acids in the body, either good or bad forms of cholesterol or triglycerides, the fats found in the blood that are most common in the human body. Recent studies from the same group of scientists have shown that the picture is more complex.
Using a chemistry-related technique called mass spectrometry, current evidence places thousands of different types of lipids in the body, each with different functions.
Taking a control sample of 1,300 obese children, the team measured their blood lipids. After that 200 of them were placed in HOLBAEK-model for a year, the lifestyle of people with famous obesity in Denmark.
The following calculations showed that among the intervention group, the numbers of lipids associated with the risk of diabetes, insulin resistance and blood pressure decreased, despite a small improvement in the BMI of some children .
For decades, scientists have relied on a classification system for lipids that separates good and bad cholesterol, but now with a simple blood test we can examine a wide range of molecules. lipid levels that can serve as important warning signs of illness. In the future, this has the potential to be a new way to assess a person’s risk of disease and by learning how to modify lipid molecules in the body, we can even prevent metabolic diseases such as complete diabetes. “
Dr. Cristina Legido-Quigley, head of the Systems Medicine group at King’s College London, Head of Clinical Medicine at the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen (SDCC) and lead author.
Obesity continues to be a risk factor for conditions such as fatty liver disease, but the team hopes that doctors can use these measurements to treat children when they are at risk and not just more than their peers.
Dr Karolina Sulek, who was part of the study and evaluation at SDCC, said: “Early detection of children at risk of these life-threatening diseases is important. Hope to intervene in their children’s lives with compassion- pain, to help them lose weight.”
The next step for researchers is to help understand how genetics affect lipids and what this means for metabolic diseases, as well as how these lipids can be changed to improve health.
Source:
Journal reference:
Huang, Y., and al. (2024). Lipid profiling identifies variable signatures of cardiometabolic risk in obese children and adolescents. Natural Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03279-x.
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