Metabolicchangesafterahypocaloric,low-glycemic-indexdietin obesechildren

Background: A low glycemic index (LGI) diet has beenproposedasatreatmentforobesityinadults;fewstud - ies have evaluated LGI diets in obese children. Aim: The pur - pose of the study was to compare the effects of two diets, withsimilarenergyintakes,butdifferentglycemicindexesin a pediatric outpatient setting. Subjects and methods: A par - allel-group, randomized controlled trial was conducted, and 22 obese outpatient children with a body mass index (BMI) Z-score >2 (11 females and 11 males, BMI 28.9±2.9 kg/m 2) wereincludedinthestudy.Patientswererandomlyallocated toahypocaloricLGI(GI:60),ortoahypocalorichighglycemic index (HGI) diet (GI:90). The LGI and HGI diets were almost equivalent for macronutrient composition. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters were measured at baseline and after6months. Results: Inbothgroupsthereweresignificant decreasesinBMI,BMIZ-score,bloodpressure,andhigh-sen - sitivity C-reactive protein. Only LGI diets produced a signifi- cant decrease in waist circumference and homeostasis mod - el assessment. Analysis of variance demonstrated that the BMI Z-score decrease from baseline values was significantly greateraftertheLGIdietthanaftertheHGIdiet(-0.20(95% confidenceinterval(CI)-0.29to-0.10) vs -0.34(95%CI-0.43 to -0.24)), mean difference between groups -0.14 (95%CI -0.27 to -0.01), p<0.05). Changes in triglyceride concentra - tionsweresignificantlylowerinLGIascomparedtoHGIdiet (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that a hypocaloric LGI diet has beneficial metabolic effects in com - parison to a hypocaloric HGI diet in obese children. (J. Endocrinol. Invest. 35: ??-??, 2012) ©2012, Editrice Kurtis