Iron stores, liver transaminase levels and metabolic risk in healthy teenagers

Background Iron overload may contribute to the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. We aimed to investigate the relationship among iron stores, liver transaminases and components of the metabolic syndrome in healthy teenagers in a cross-sectional study. Material and methods We determined body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR), blood pressure, liver ultrasound, serum lipids, insulin, fasting glucose, liver transaminase levels, hsCRP, iron parameters in 325 of 341 (95.3%) students (234 men, 16.7 +/- 1.7 years; 91 women, 16.5 +/- 1.7 years) of one single high school. Male and female study participants were allocated to increasing quartiles of body iron stores as assessed by sTfr/ferritin and alanine aminotranspeptidase (ALT) levels, and the distribution of cardiometabolic risk factors along quartiles was analysed. Regression analysis was performed to confirm the independent relationship between parameters. Results In male students, BMI, WHR, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, serum triglyceride levels and hsCRP were higher in the top sTfR/ferritin and ALT quartiles compared with the lowest quartiles (P < 0.01 for all parameters). In female students, sTfR/ferritin were not associated with antropomorphic cardiometabolic risk factors but with insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, P = 0.046). Moreover, ALT levels were independently related to BMI, waist and hip circumference, systolic blood pressure, serum triglyceride and insulin concentrations (P < 0.05 for all parameters) in female students. Conclusion These results provide evidence for linkage among body iron stores, transaminase activity and the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors in apparently healthy, non-obese adolescents even within the range of normal laboratory and anthropomorphic values and suggest that iron stores should be investigated as a potentially modifiable risk factor in healthy teenagers.