Food Intake of Children with Short Stature Born Small for Gestational Age before and during a Randomized GH Trial

Abstract

Parents of short children born SGA often report that their children have a serious lack of appetite and a low food intake. In this study we investigated food intake, by using a standardized 7-day food questionnaire, in 88 short SGA children before start of GH treatment. The intake was compared with the recommended daily intake (RDI) of age-matched children. We also compared the food intake of GH-treated children (n = 62) with randomized controls (n = 26) after 1 year of GH treatment. In addition, we evaluated the effect of food intake and GH treatment on body composition and serum levels of IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and leptin. Our study shows that caloric intake, fat and carbohydrate intake of short SGA children aged 5.9 (1.6) years was significantly lower compared to the RDI for age-matched children. One year of GH treatment resulted in a significant increase of caloric, fat, carbohydrate and protein intake compared to baseline. Compared to randomized controls, caloric, carbohydrate and protein intake increased significantly after 1 year of GH treatment. Short SGA children had significantly lower SDS scores for LBM, fat mass, skinfold (SF) and BMI compared to age-matched references. They also had significantly lower serum IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and leptin levels. GH treatment resulted in a significant increase of height, LBM, BMI, IGF-I and IGFBP-3 SDS and a significant decrease of SF SDS and leptin SDS. In conclusion, our study shows that short SGA children have indeed a lower food intake than age-matched controls. During GH treatment the food intake increased significantly compared to baseline in contrast to the randomized control group.

Body Size of Twins Compared with Siblings and the General Population: From Birth to Late Adolescence

“…36,37 In line with these results is the finding that prepubertal children who were born small for gestational age that did not catch up had a food intake below the recommended energy intake for their age. 38 Regarding the energy balance, it was shown that infants born small for gestational age showed a greater total energy expenditure than appropriate for gestational age control subjects. 39,40 Therefore it would be valuable to study growth, food intake, and the energy expenditure in twins, siblings, and singleton control subjects to gain insight into the mechanisms that regulate body weight and thus can help us in the prevention of overweight.…”

Growth Hormone-Induced Increases in Skeletal Muscle Mass Alleviates the Associated Insulin Resistance in Short Children Born Small for Gestational Age, but Not with Growth Hormone Deficiency

“…Short children born SGA generally have little appetite so that the glucose loaded state of an OGTT is certainly an artificial situation for them [27]. To study the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic and the hyperglycemic states would require hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps and intravenous glucose tolerance tests.…”

Overnight Levels of Luteinizing Hormone, Follicle-Stimulating Hormone and Growth Hormone before and during Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Analogue Treatment in Short Boys Born Small for Gestational Age

“…Within the heterogeneous SGA population, this probably reflects a continuum in GH secretion, ranging from GH deficiency to normal GH secretion. Alterations in the GH/IGF/IGFBP pathway and genetic variations found in genes involved in this pathway [38, 39] might in part explain this continuum. …”