Background: Children's obesity and overweight are new health issues and are associated with insulin resistance. Osteocalcin level is inversely correlated with obesity and has a metabolic role in insulin resistance.
Aim of work: The study aimed to detect the effect of nutritional intervention on serum osteocalcin and HOMA-IR in obese children. Patients and Methods: This interventional study was conducted on 40 obese children and 20 control recruited from Clinical Nutrition Unit, Ain Shams University. The participants were subjected to nutritional analysis, body composition, anthropometric measurements, and laboratory parameters including a full lipid profile, osteocalcin, fasting insulin, fasting glucose, and HOMA-IR calculation at baseline and 3-month intervals after being subjected to a nutritional weight loss and exercise program.
Results: In contrast to the controls, the patients' serum levels of triglycerides, LDL, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and HOMA-IR were all significantly higher, while HDL and osteocalcin were lower. BMI, waist-hip ratio, and waist-height ratio significantly decreased after the nutritional intervention. Also, fasting insulin and HOMA-IR were dramatically decreased, Osteocalcin increased, and fasting glucose level did not significantly alter. The anthropometric measures, fasting blood glucose, insulin, and HOMA-IR had notable negative relationships with osteocalcin, but these were non-significant. Conclusion: Insulin resistance is demonstrated in pediatric obesity and correlates with osteocalcin levels. Early nutritional intervention and exercise programs causing weight loss results in elevation of osteocalcin level coupled with improvement in IR suggesting osteocalcin's role as a prognostic marker.