A new blood test appears to be able to identify children at risk of serious diseases such as type 2 diabetes, liver and heart disease, according to researchers from King’s College London.
This test exploits the relationship between lipids and diseases affecting metabolism in children and could serve as an early warning system for potentially life-threatening diseases.
The study findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine. The study’s lead author, Dr Cristina Legido-Quigley, said: “For decades, scientists relied on a classification system for lipids that divided them into good and bad cholesterol, but now with a simple blood test we can estimate a very wider range of lipid molecules that could serve as warning signs.”
According to the British newspaper “Guardian”, researchers challenge that cholesterol is the main cause of obesity-related complications in children, identifying new lipid molecules that contribute to health risks such as blood pressure, and are not only associated with the weight of the child.
The team assessed the blood lipids of 1,300 obese children. Then 200 of them followed the Holbaek model, a lifestyle intervention for people with obesity popular in Denmark, for a year. Lipid levels in the intervention group, which are associated with diabetes risk, insulin resistance and blood pressure, decreased despite the fact that Body Mass Index was not significantly improved.
The next step for researchers is to understand how genetics affect lipids and what this means for metabolic disease, as well as how interfering with the levels of these lipids can improve health.
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