Association between eating behavior, anthropometric and biochemical measurements, and peptide YY (PYY) hormone levels in obese adolescents in outpatient care

Objective: To evaluate the eating behavior of obese adolescents and its association with biochemical, anthropometric and peptide YY (PYY) measures. Methods: Fifty-one obese adolescents received counseling for weight management at 12 monthly appointments. Fasting serum PYY levels, total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), insulin and glucose levels, waist circumference (WC) and results from the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-21) were assessed. Results: Over one year there was a significant increase in PYY levels (p = 0.026), reduction in TC (p = 0.003), TG (p = 0.022), BMI (p = 0.002), BMI z-score (p < 0.001) and WC (p = 0.003). During this period there was a decrease in the uncontrolled eating score (UE), illustrating that adolescents displayed more self-control (p = 0.008) at the end of the study; however, this result was independent of BMI and BMI z-score (p = 0.407). The reduction in UE was associated with a significant improvement in insulin levels (r(s) = 0.326; p = 0.020). The reduction in UE was also associated with lower levels of blood glucose (r = 0.332; p = 0.017), and the increase of cognitive restriction, with the reduction of insulin insulin (r(s) = -0.294; p = 0.036) and TG (r = -0.368; p = 0.008) and an increase in Cognitive Restraint. Conclusions: Our results show that after a year of monitoring weight loss, adolescents had more controlled eating behaviors, increased PYY levels, and reduced weights.