ESPE Abstracts

Pediatric obesity is constantly increasing and exposes to serious cardiovascular and metabolic risks. The first treatment against obesity is lifestyle change. Actually, any intervention seems to be effective on the evolution of this condition, especially in the long term. For this reason, the interest in non-pharmaceutical compounds is growing. Several studies mentioned the use of zinc and inositol as compounds acting on weight loss and insulin resistance. The aim of this study is to investigate the benefits of combined administration of Zinc and Myo-inositol in children and adolescents with obesity, assessing the improvement in clinical parameters, such as insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), the lipid panel and glucose and insulin levels during oral glucose tolerance test. For that, 56 patients with obesity and insulin resistance have been enrolled. The age was between 10.7 and 17.7 years, with an average BMI of 33.3 ± 4.5 Kg/m2. Subjects were randomly assigned to two homogeneous groups: treatment group has received 5 mg of Zinc, 2000 mg of Myo-inositol and 1000 mg of galactooligosaccharides from Pisum sativum, while the placebo group received 1000mg of galactooligosaccharides from Pisum sativum. The treatment lasted 3 months and all patients enrolled were subjected to an isocaloric diet consisting of 55% carbohydrates, 30-35% fat and 15% protein. Clinical auxological investigations and biochemical evaluations were carried out for the determination of lipid profile, liver function and glucose-insulin metabolism. In both groups, a statistically significant reduction of BMI and BMI Z-score has been observed. An improvement of fasting insulin and fasting glucose, HOMA-IR, ISI and QUICKI (insulin-sensitivity indices) has occurred in both groups. Also, the treatment group showed a reduction in triglycerides and LDL cholesterol and an increase in HDL cholesterol, with a statistically significant variation between the two groups (P< 0.02). In conclusion Zinc and Myo-inositol seem to have a positive role on lipid profile and the association with an isocaloric diet leads to a reduction in body weight and insulin resistance. To strengthen the effects of lifestyle changes, supplementation with Zinc and Myo-inositol could be used as a non-pharmacological agent for the control of complications related to obesity. However, further investigations are still needed to define the physiological effects and therapeutic treatments related to their administration using a larger sample and a longer follow-up duration.