PR000254 (Project)

Description:“Metabolomics” is a powerful new analytical approach for measuring and evaluating all small and intermediate sized metabolites in a variety of tissues or samples in conditions of health and disease. The purpose of this research is to determine if “metabolomics” can be used to address several important unanswered questions about obesity in children. First we will use metabolomics to identify patterns of metabolites in blood that are unique to obese children. We will then determine if these patterns are predictive of excessive weight gain and/or poor weight loss response in non-obese and obese children enrolled in an exercise program. This knowledge will help us understand why some children are destined to become obese and/or are poorly responsive to treatment. This will help identify children who might need more aggressive, expensive or personally tailored obesity treatments. Second we plan to use metabolomics to identify metabolic signals specifically associated with the early initiation of atherosclerosis (and hence increased risk for cardiovascular disease [CVD]) in obese children. We expect that this knowledge will ultimately lead to better early risk assessment and opportunities for risk reduction in both obese and non-obese children than allowed by current clinical practices. Finally the knowledge gained from this research could be applied in the future to prospectively assess – and therefore proactively manage ~ a broad range of risk factors in large numbers of young children in a rational and cost effective manner.