Evolution of the biochemical profile of children treated or undergoing treatment for moderate or severe stunting: Consequences of metabolic programming?

Objective to evaluate changes in the biochemical profile of children treated or being treated for moderate or severe stunting in a nutrition recovery and education center. methods this was a retrospective longitudinal study of 263 children treated at this center between august of 2008 to august of 2011,aged 1 to 6 years,diagnosed with moderate (z-score of height-for-age [haz] < -2) or severe stunting (haz < -3). data were collected on socioeconomic conditions,dietary habits,and biochemical changes,as well as height according to age. results the nutritional intervention showed an increase in haz of children with moderate (0.51 ± 0.4,p = 0.001) and severe (0.91 ± 0.7,p = 0.001) stunting during the monitoring. increased levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (igf-1) (initial: 71.7 ng/dl; final: 90.4 ng/dl; p = 0.01) were also observed,as well as a reduction in triglycerides (tg) in both severely (initial: 91.8 mg/dl; final: 79.1 mg/dl; p = 0.01) and in moderately malnourished children (initial: 109.2 mg/dl; final 88.7 mg/dl; p = 0.01),and a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol hdl-c only in the third year of intervention (initial: 31.4 mg/dl; final: 42.2 mg/dl). the values of total cholesterol (tc) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (ldl-c) levels remained high throughout the treatment (initial: 165.1 mg/dl; final: 163.5 mg/dl and initial: 109.0 mg/dl; final: 107.3 mg/dl,respectively). conclusion the nutritional treatment for children with short stature was effective in reducing stunting and improving tg and hdl-c after three years of intervention. however,the levels of ldl-c and tc remained high even in treated children. it is therefore speculated that these changes may result from metabolic programming due to malnutrition. © 2014 sociedade brasileira de pediatria.