Association between dietary glycemic load and metabolic syndrome in obese children and adolescents

Objective. To study the association between the metabolic syndrome (MS) and the glycemic load (GL) of food intake among obese children and adolescents seen in consultation by the endocrinology team in a pediatric referral hospital in Lima, Peru. Population and Method. Cross-sectional study among obese children and adolescents (body mass index ≥ 95 percentile), 10-15 years old. The MS was classified according to criteria of the International Diabetes Federation. A 24 hour reminder was used, and the overall and per meal GL was calculated. The association between the GL tertiles (comparison with the lower tertile) and the MS was assessed using prevalence ratios adjusted by demographic outcome measures, family history, physical activity and total carbohydrate consumption in Poisson regression models with a robust variance. Results. Out of 273 obese children and adolescents, 52.4% were male and 94.9% did not engage in any physical activity. Glycemic load median value was 213 (164.8-287.4) and the daily calorie intake value was 2275 (1851-3024) kcal, consisting mainly of carbohydrates (62%). MS prevalence was 22.3%; the most prevalent components were abdominal obesity (81.7%) and low values of high density lipoprotein (HDL) (63.7%). Lastly, an association was observed between a high consumption of GL and the risk of developing MS (aRP 4.5; 95% CI: 1.3-15.3). Conclusions. There is an association between a high consumption of GL and the presence of MS among obese children and adolescents.