Investigation of the relationship between nutritional status, appetite, body composition, metabolic parameters and serum nesfatin-1 levels in underweight and normal weight children

This study was conducted with 90 children between the ages of 6-8 years to investigate the relationship between serum nesfatin-1 levels and nutritional status, appetite, body composition and metabolic parameters of healthy, underweight and normal weight children without loss of appetite. Research data were collected using a questionnaire form and face-to-face interview technique. Of the participants, 44 were in the study group and 46 were in the control group. Anthropometric and body composition measurements of the children were taken by the researcher. The questionnaire form consisted of a family information form, a child information form including personal information about the child, questions to measure the child's meal consumption, appetite, nutrition and eating behavior, some metabolic parameters and three non-consecutive daily food consumption records. Children underwent clinical examination by a physician. According to the results of the statistical analysis, 25.6% of the mothers evaluated their child's appetite as good, 22.2% as moderate and 52.2% as poor. Serum nesfatin-1 level was 7.71 [4.63-11.29] mmol/L in the study group and 7.52 [4.57-12.30] mmol/L in the control group. There was no significant relationship between serum nesfatin-1 level and maternal appetite. There was a positive correlation between serum nesfatin-1 level and only birth weight among body compositions (p<0.05). There was no significant correlation between nesfatin-1 level and basal metabolic rate. Serum nesfatin-1 level and dietary energy intake (r:0.262, p=0.013), fat intake (r:0.395, p=0.000), percentage of energy from fat (r:0.233, p=0.027), SFA (r:0.366, p=0.000), MUFA (r:0.325, p=0.002), PUFA (r: 0.281, p=0.007), cholesterol (r:0.292, p=0.005), fiber (r:0.218, p=0.039), and water consumption (r:0.244, p=0.020) and negatively with the percentage of energy from carbohydrate (r:-0.215, p=0.042). There was no relationship between daily intake of carbohydrate, protein, the percentage of energy from protein and serum nesfatin-1 level. Among the metabolic parameters, only a positive correlation was observed between serum nesfatin-1 levels and T4 (r:0.291; p=0.005) and a statistically significant negative correlation with TSH (r:-0.247; p=0.019). The results showed that nesfatin-1 levels were not correlated between underweight children with anorexia and control group children with normal weight. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between children according to maternal appetite levels, especially in nesfatin-1 levels. Further studies with larger sample size are needed to evaluate the effect and importance of nutrition, appetite status, body composition and metabolic parameters on serum nesfatin-1 levels.