Alanine Transaminase Individual Variation Is a Better Marker than Socio-Cultural Factors for Body Mass Increase in Healthy Males

Overweight and obesity are considered a major burden on public health in developed countries. Underlying etiologies are enigmatic and metabolic causes have been suggested to various extents before. We analyze links of major blood parame-ters to individual body mass in a young male cohort, controlling for socio-cultural factors, in order to explore an underly-ing metabolic cause of obesity. Anthropometric (height, weight) physiologic (blood pressure) and metabolic data (total cholesterol, alanine transaminase, creatinine, postprandial glucose, blood cell counts, haemoglobin) of Swiss conscripts (N = 46,684; 18 20 yrs old; 2005-2007 census) were examined in the context of their socio-cultural groupings (occupation, mother tongue, religion) by ANOVA and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Swiss Armed Forces recruiting is mandatory, thus each year’s group studied reflects more than 80% of a year’s male Swiss citizen birth cohort. Individual body mass index ranged from 19 kg/m2 (5th percentile) to 29 kg/m2 (95th percentile) with a median of 22 kg/m2. BMI in-creases significantly, even within its normal range (18.5 25 kg/m2) with increases in alanine transaminase (r2 = 0.10), total cholesterol (r2 = 0.08) and erythrocyte counts (r2 = 0.02). All other parameters, including socio-cultural categories, explain individually 1% or less of total BMI variation. Glucose values do not correlate with BMI significantly, thus sug-gesting a specific metabolic co-etiology of individual mass increases. There may occur a biochemical anomaly in liver metabolism that underlies development of the metabolic syndrome later in life. Were it so, pharmacological intervention rather than just diet and exercise regime could be more effective treatment of obesity. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2011.210141 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-56167 Published Version Originally published at: Henneberg, M; Rühli, Frank J; Gruber, P; Woitek, U (2011). Alanine transaminase individual variation is a better marker than socio-cultural factors for body mass increase in healthy males. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2(10):1054-1062. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2011.210141 Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2011, 2, 1054-1062 doi:10.4236/fns.2011.210141 Published Online December 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/fns) Copyright © 2011 SciRes. FNS Alanine Transaminase Individual Variation Is a Better Marker than Socio-Cultural Factors for Body Mass Increase in Healthy Males Maciej Henneberg, Frank J. Rühli, Philipp Gruber, Ulrich Woitek Biological Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy Unit, School of Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia; Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich; Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Empirical Research in Economics University of Zurich, Switzerland; CESifo, Munich, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] Received July 27 2011; revised August 27, 2011; accepted September 5, 2011. ABSTRACT Overweight and obesity are considered a major burden on public health in developed countries. Underlying etiologies are enigmatic and metabolic causes have been suggested to various extents before. We analyze links of major blood parameters to individual body mass in a young male cohort, controlling for socio-cultural factors, in order to explore an underlying metabolic cause of obesity. Anthropometric (height, weight) physiologic (blood pressure) and metabolic data (total cholesterol, alanine transaminase, creatinine, postprandial glucose, blood cell counts, haemoglobin) of Swiss conscripts (N = 46,684; 18 20 yrs old; 2005-2007 census) were examined in the context of their socio-cultural groupings (occupation, mother tongue, religion) by ANOVA and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Swiss Armed Forces recruiting is mandatory, thus each year’s group studied reflects more than 80% of a year’s male Swiss citizen birth cohort. Individual body mass index ranged from 19 kg/m (5th percentile) to 29 kg/m (95th percentile) with a median of 22 kg/m. BMI increases significantly, even within its normal range (18.5 25 kg/m) with increases in alanine transaminase (r = 0.10), total cholesterol (r = 0.08) and erythrocyte counts (r = 0.02). All other parameters, including socio-cultural categories, explain individually 1% or less of total BMI variation. Glucose values do not correlate with BMI significantly, thus suggesting a specific metabolic co-etiology of individual mass increases. There may occur a biochemical anomaly in liver metabolism that underlies development of the metabolic syndrome later in life. Were it so, pharmacological intervention rather than just diet and exercise regime could be more effective treatment of obesity.Overweight and obesity are considered a major burden on public health in developed countries. Underlying etiologies are enigmatic and metabolic causes have been suggested to various extents before. We analyze links of major blood parameters to individual body mass in a young male cohort, controlling for socio-cultural factors, in order to explore an underlying metabolic cause of obesity. Anthropometric (height, weight) physiologic (blood pressure) and metabolic data (total cholesterol, alanine transaminase, creatinine, postprandial glucose, blood cell counts, haemoglobin) of Swiss conscripts (N = 46,684; 18 20 yrs old; 2005-2007 census) were examined in the context of their socio-cultural groupings (occupation, mother tongue, religion) by ANOVA and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Swiss Armed Forces recruiting is mandatory, thus each year’s group studied reflects more than 80% of a year’s male Swiss citizen birth cohort. Individual body mass index ranged from 19 kg/m (5th percentile) to 29 kg/m (95th percentile) with a median of 22 kg/m. BMI increases significantly, even within its normal range (18.5 25 kg/m) with increases in alanine transaminase (r = 0.10), total cholesterol (r = 0.08) and erythrocyte counts (r = 0.02). All other parameters, including socio-cultural categories, explain individually 1% or less of total BMI variation. Glucose values do not correlate with BMI significantly, thus suggesting a specific metabolic co-etiology of individual mass increases. There may occur a biochemical anomaly in liver metabolism that underlies development of the metabolic syndrome later in life. Were it so, pharmacological intervention rather than just diet and exercise regime could be more effective treatment of obesity.