Funding outcome

Although body weight gives us an idea of children's health, it is not a good indicator of their body composition, or the amouts of fat and lean mass within body weight. Similar to adults, children may have abnormalities in their body composition such as high amounts of body fat and low lean mass. Having higher body fat, or obesity may negatively impact their bodie's metabolism leading to increased blood lipid and sugar levels, as well as increased blood pressure. In adults, low lean mass also negatively affect their metabolism but we do not know whether this is true in children. Our study will investigate whether children with obesity who have and do not have metabolic issues (high blood lipid or sugar levels or high block pressure) have a different body composition type, namely high fat and low lean mass. We will also explore whether body composition using the ratio between fat and lean mass is a better indicator of metabolic health, compared to the currently used measurement of body weight. This project provides important body composition information of children and will facilitate the development of potential interventions during childhood that could prevent metabolic diseases in adulthood such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.