Emerging Insights in Clinical Nutrition: Assessment Tools, Personalized Approaches, and Metabolic Health (Poster Theater Flash Session 12)

(PTFS12-05-25) BMI Trajectories During Childhood and Their Association With Non-alcoholic Fatty Pancreas in Adolescence. Pilot Study

Monday, June 2, 2025

4:16 PM – 4:20 PM ET

Location: South Hall B (The Hub) - Poster Theater / Poster Board Number PT-6

Presenting Author(s)

AG

Ana Gálvez-Alemán

Bachelor student
Iberoamericana University
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Co-Author(s)

AC

Alejandra Cantoral, ScD (she/her/hers)

Professor
Ibero American University
Cuernavaca, Distrito Federal, Mexico
HL

Héctor Lamadrid-Figueroa

Center for Population Health Research, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Mexico
RL

Rafael Lara

Imaging National Center for Research in Medical Imaging and Instrumentation, Mexico
ER

Ernesto Roldan-Valadez

National Institute of Rehabilitation, Mexico
MT

Mara Tellez Rojo, PhD, MS

National Institute of Public Health
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
RW

Robert O. Wright, MD, MPH

Professor
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York, New York, United States
DV

Damaskini Valvi

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, New York, United States

Objectives: Evaluate the association between BMI trajectories during childhood and the percentage of pancreatic fat in early adolescence among Mexican children.

Methods: Pilot study nested in the Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment, and Social Stress (PROGRESS) prospective birth cohort in Mexico City. Pancreatic fat was measured at adolescence using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (to quantify pancreatic fat via proton density fat fraction (PDFF)). Based on the historical records of the cohort, BMI trajectories were constructed using CDC BMI for sex percentile charts from ages 2- 14 years. The trajectories were defined as: 1) Persistent BMI within recommended range (BMI between 25th and 75th percentiles). 2) Early and persistent overweight (BMI above the 75th percentile from ages 2-14). 3) Abrupt transition to overweight during preadolescence (BMI < 75th percentile during early childhood but rising to >75th percentiles between ages 8-10). Due to biased distributions, variables are reported as medians with interquartile ranges (IQR), and bootstrapped quantile regression were run.

Results: 20 children with an average age of 14 years (SD + 0.5), 45% were girls, and 55% were overweight at the moment of the MRI evaluation. The median pancreatic fat percentage was 20.2% (IQR 12.5 – 33.8), 27.2% for girls and 15.8% for boys. 30%, 30% and 40% were classified into trajectories 1,2, and 3 respectively. Participants in trajectories 2 and 3 had 8.6% and 5.0% more pancreatic fat compared to those in trajectory 1, respectively. Girls in trajectory 2 had a median of 15.3% more pancreatic fat percentage compared to boys in trajectory 1 (p < 0.1).

Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that BMI patterns from early childhood may increase the risk of developing non-alcoholic fatty pancreas disease. Future studies should include a bigger sample and include covariates as sedentary behavior, unhealthy dietary patterns, hormonal processes and genetic predisposition.

Funding Sources: P30ES023515