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Growth retardation at early life and metabolic adaptation among North Korean children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2015

S.-K. Lee ,
S.-Y. Nam  and
D. J. Hoffman
S.-K. Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Nutrition, Inha University, Incheon, Korea
S.-Y. Nam
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Nutrition, Inha University, Incheon, Korea
D. J. Hoffman
Affiliation:
Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: S.-K. Lee, Department of Food and Nutrition, Inha University, 100 Inharo, Incheon 402-751, Korea. (Email skleenutrition@inha.ac.kr)
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Abstract

The high prevalence of obesity is a major public health issue and contributes to the ‘double burden’ of disease in developing countries. Early exposure to poor nutrition may cause metabolic adaptations that, when accompanied by exposure to ‘affluent’ nutrition, may increase the risk for obesity and other metabolic disorders. The aim of this study was to determine differences in energy metabolism and nutritional status between normal-height and growth-retarded North Korean children living in South Korea. A total of 29 children were recruited and underwent measurements of resting energy expenditure (REE), respiratory quotient (RQ), anthropometrics and dietary intake. There was no difference in REE or any assessment of obesity between the growth-retarded and normal-height children. Children who were classified as growth retarded (HAZ<−1.0) or stunted (HAZ<−2.0) had a significantly higher RQ (β=0.036 or 0.060, respectively, P=0.018 or 0.016), independent of sex, age, fat-free mass, fat mass and food quotient, compared with children with normal height. The results from this study, the first from an Asian population, add to the growing body of literature suggesting that undernutrition early in life results in adaptations in energy metabolism that favor fat deposition, increasing the risk of stunted children becoming overweight or obese later in life. Continued research on this topic is warranted, given the continued rise in the prevalence of the double burden in transitional countries.

Keywords

childrenfat oxidationgrowth retardationNorth KoreaRQ
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , August 2015 , pp. 291 - 298
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2015 

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