Dietary fructose in pediatric obesity-related diseases: Identification of nutritional, biological, omics, and social determinants is a research project, coordinated by Eastern Piedmont University and supported by the Cariplo Foundation, in which researchers from the Laboratory of Psychology and Social Processes in Sport of the University of Rome “Foro Italico.”
The project, which starts in March 2023, studies the negative incidence of ultra-processed foods that are leading to rapidly increasing cases of obesity in children and adolescents. Through comparative, multidisciplinary analysis, it will be possible to influence future public health campaigns, reducing the incidence of these high-risk chronic conditions among minors.
Children and adolescents are increasingly protagonists of the so-called nutritional transition, a phenomenon that influences their dietary styles and health as in the case, for example, of the “Western” diet, characterized by more “comfort” and ultra-processed foods that are high in saturated fats and sugars, such as fructose. It is precisely fructose that has been the subject of recent scientific debate in the medical and nutritional spheres; when taken in excess, in fact, it implies an increase in the development of obesity and the numerous metabolic complications that are a direct consequence of it, first and foremost non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Despite the significant increase in pediatric obesity cases, today most of the data on fructose in the literature still focus on adults and adult animal models. This is compounded by insufficient public awareness of the risks related to unhealthy diets rich in processed products and fructose but scientists. This was the background for the project “Dietary fructose: a metabolic switch in pediatric obesity-related diseases. Identification of nutritional, biological, omics, and social determinants “, whose main objective is to evaluate the dietary intake of fructose in preschool children and adolescents in order to assess their metabolic risks.
The project has two practical objectives that are achievable precisely because of the multidisciplinary nature of those collaborating on it. The first, purely medical, concerns the assessment of organ damage caused by excessive fructose intake in pediatric age and will also consider environmental determinants that differ between northern and southern Italy. Complications related to obesity caused by excessive fructose, such as nonalcoholic hepatic steatosis and bone fragility, will also be evaluated within the study cohort. These pathologies will be investigated through in vitro and in vivo experimental studies including in animal models. In fact, the team’s researchers will study the molecular and immune mechanisms involved in the development and progression of hepatic steatosis and osteoclastogenesis following a fructose-rich diet.
The second objective of the study, which is purely sociological, is the nationwide identification of socio-cultural determinants that promote a fructose-rich diet. The unit led by Professor Francesca Romana Lenzi deals precisely with this second part, that is, to compare national data with the determinants of the cohort under analysis, assessing its urban, social and economic risk factors in order to understand whether biomedical values, environmental conditions and lifestyles are mutually correlated.
The data collected will then be used to set up prevention campaigns that are more effective in their messages and strategies and in promoting healthier lifestyles.
Head UO: Flavia Prodam, University of Eastern Piedmont
PI: Francesca Romana Lenzi, Maria Felicia Faienza, University of Bari