A new type of lipid-based blood test could make it easier to identify children at risk of obesity-related complications such as type 2 diabetes, liver disease and heart disease, scientists say.
A new study from King’s College London published in Nature Medicine has uncovered a new link between lipids and diseases that affect children’s metabolism, which could act as an early warning system for diseases such as liver disease.
The researchers suggest that using machines already installed in hospitals to test infant plasma could help doctors spot early signs of illness in children sooner and allow them to get the right treatment.
The findings also challenge the commonly held belief that cholesterol is the main cause of complications associated with childhood obesity, and identify new lipid molecules that contribute to health risks such as blood pressure but are not simply correlated with a child’s weight.
Lipids have traditionally been thought of as the body’s most abundant fatty acids, either the good or bad types of cholesterol and triglycerides – the fats found in the bloodstream. Recent research by the same group of scientists suggests the picture is more complicated.
Using a chemistry-related technique called mass spectrometry, current evidence indicates that there are thousands of different types of lipids in the body, each with a different function.
The researchers took a control sample of 1,300 obese children and assessed their blood lipids, then put 200 of them through a one-year course of the HOLBAEK model, a popular Danish lifestyle intervention for obese people.
Subsequent measurements showed that the intervention group had reduced lipid levels linked to diabetes risk, insulin resistance and blood pressure, although some children saw limited improvement in their BMI.
“For decades, scientists have relied on a classification system that splits lipids into good and bad cholesterol, but now a simple blood test can assess a much broader range of lipid molecules that could serve as important early warning signs of disease. In the future, this could become a whole new way of assessing an individual’s risk of disease, and maybe even preventing metabolic diseases like diabetes altogether by studying how to alter lipid molecules in the body.”
Dr Christina Regido-Quigley, Systems Medicine Group Leader, King’s College London and Director of Systems Medicine at the Copenhagen Steno Diabetes Centre (SDCC), lead author
While obesity remains a risk factor for fatty liver disease and other conditions, the researchers hope that doctors will be able to use these measurements to treat kids who are at risk and not just a little bigger than their peers.
Dr Karolina Sulek, who worked on the study and analysed it at SDCC, said: “Early identification of children at risk of life-threatening diseases is crucial. This study provides strong evidence that there is a great need for obesity management, giving parents the confidence to intervene more compassionately in their children’s lives and help them lose weight.”
The next step for researchers is to understand how genes affect lipids, what that means for metabolic disease, and how we can alter these lipids to improve health.
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Journal References:
Huang, Y., et al. (2024). Lipid profiling identifies modifiable signatures of cardiometabolic risk in obese children and adolescents. Nature Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03279-x.
