The association of dietary acid load with metabolic syndrome in obese children: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Acid-base status, which can be affected by dietary acid load, has been related with risk factors for metabolic syndrome (MetS). In the current study, we investigated the association between dietary acid load and metabolic syndrome among overweight or obese children. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 339 participants, aged 6-13 years old with WHO body mass index z-score > 1 SD. The dietary intake of participants was assessed using a validated semi-quantitativefood frequency questionnaire, and the potential renal acid load (PRAL) and net endogenous acid production (NEAP) scores were calculated. Multiple logistic regression models were used to estimate the risk of metabolic syndrome according to the PRAL and NEAP quartile categories. Results: The mean age of participants were 9.3 years old. Mean PRAL and NEAP scores were −5.32 and -17.2 mEq/d, respectively. In this study the potential confounders including age, sex, puberty stage, leisure timeactivity, total energy, and, body fat percentage were adjusted in multivariable adjusted model. By using logistic regression, no significant association was observed between PEAL and NEAP with metabolic syndrome (OR= 0.99, 95% CI: 0.98-1.01, P-value= 0.580 and OR= 0.94, 95% CI: 0.25-3.55, P-value= 0.929, respectively), after adjustment for potential confounders. Conclusion: Longitudinal studies should be conducted to evaluate the association between PRAL and NEAP with metabolic syndrome in children.

Keywords:

Dietary acid load (DAL) , Metabolic syndrome (Mets) , Obese children.