Sobrepeso e obesidade e a sua relação com a barreira morfofuncional intestinal, perfil bioquímico e o status de vitamina E

Abstract

Changes in the function of the intestinal morphofunctional barrier (IMB) have been observed in animal models of obesity, but few studies have evaluated this issue in humans. Vitamin E, which is stored in adipose tissue, also appears to be related to overweight and obesity. However, the relationship between vitamin E and FBMI in the context of overweight and obesity has shown inconsistent results. This study aimed to determine the relationships between overweight and obesity with FBMI, biochemical profile and vitamin E status. An observational, quantitative, crosssectional study was carried out with data collection from September 2019 to March 2020 and November 2021 to March 2023. Sociodemographic data, anthropometric data (BMI, waist circumference - WC, waist-to-hip ratio - WHR and conicity index - CI), blood and urine samples were collected. A total of 75 individuals took part in the study, 32 of whom were eutrophic and 43 overweight/obese. Intestinal permeability was assessed using the lactulose/mannitol (L/M) test, using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) as described by Barboza et al. (1999). The biochemical profile was assessed using biochemical markers such as total cholesterol and fractions, triglycerides, fasting glucose, fasting insulin and ultrasensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Serum alpha-tocopherol samples were analyzed according to the method of Ortega et al. (1998) and adapted by Ribeiro et al. (2016) using CLAE. Correlations between anthropometric variables (BMI, WC, WHR, CI) and FBMI parameters and vitamin E were performed using Pearson's (r) and Spearman's (ρ) correlations. The L/M ratio was similar between the groups studied (p = 0.180), with a median of 0.028 (0.013; 0.061) in the eutrophic group and 0.020 (0.010; 0.036) in the overweight/obese group. Serum concentrations of alpha-tocopherol showed no difference between the groups studied (p = 0.654). Vitamin E deficiency was present in 30.20% of overweight/obese individuals and 28.10% of eutrophic individuals. In the overweight/obese group, the percentage of lactulose showed a positive correlation with HDL-c (ρ = 0.347, p = 0.028), as did the L/M ratio (ρ = 0.418, p = 0.008). On the other hand, the percentage of mannitol showed a negative correlation with HDL-c (ρ = - 0.371, p = 0.014) and a positive correlation with fasting glycemia (ρ = 0.367, p = 0.020). The results showed that there was no change in BMI and vitamin E status in overweight and obese participants when compared to the eutrophic group. However, the biochemical profile variables correlated with the BMI parameters, indicating low-grade inflammation and metabolic changes resulting from excess weight.