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Metabolic syndrome is associated with obesity and the risk of cardiovascular diseases, has long been linked in the field of medicine to people in adulthood. However, current research suggests otherwise. Professor Angel Gil, the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology Biomedical Research Center at the University of Granada, led a study seeking biomarkers that detect this condition of prematurely. The results for the direct relationship between insulin resistance and syndrome, and how the disease affects the composition of fatty acids, have appeared in the journals’ European Journal of Nutrition ‘,’ Clinical Science ‘,’ Clinical Nutrition and Nutrition ‘and’ Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases’.

The team has already found the incidence of the disease in obese children six to ten years, which have been relevant evidence. Specifically, studies suggest that 30% of children with weight problems had metabolic syndrome. The goal now is to find a biomarker with a more rapid and safe diagnosis of the disease. In this line of work, Professor Angel Gil notes that adiponectin, a hormone related to insulin resistance, could become an “excellent” marker of metabolic syndrome in children.

Early Diagnosis
In this sense, explains that researchers have found that obese children have less of this hormone and thus, increase their resistance to insulin. This entails the development of diabetes in these early ages, which is associated with metabolic syndrome. “The measurement of this hormone as a determinant marker of the disorder in children would be a breakthrough for the detection and subsequent treatment of the disease,” says project director, who has received an incentive of 247,000 euros from the Junta de Andalucía.

The study conducted by the University of Granada and with the collaboration of other national institutions, the Hospital Reina Sofia Cordoba, Santiago de Compostela and the Clinical Zaragoza, has included more than 900 children who have been studying their referents genetics, diet and lifestyle.

After checking indicators such as blood pressure, body mass index and cholesterol, the scientists concluded that 30% of obese children suffering from the syndrome. So, Gil notes that when a child has at least three of these variables altered, can be said to have metabolic syndrome. The adipodectina would expedite the diagnosis, because this variable could be analyzed to determine whether or not the child has the syndrome.