Abstract
Objective: Recent reports suggest that ghrelin regulation may differ by ethnicity and age. This study was designed to examine circulating ghrelin among overweight female African Americans across different age groups.
Methods: Eleven overweight peripubertal girls, 17 overweight pubertal girls, and a control group of 18 overweight African-American premenopausal women ingested a standard liquid meal after an overnight fast. Blood samples were obtained before the meal and for 4 h postchallenge. Participants rated appetite by a visual analog scale.
Results: Peripubertal girls demonstrated higher postprandial ghrelin and lesser ghrelin suppression compared with adults (p<0.05), corresponding with greater desire to eat across the test period (p=0.017). Fasting ghrelin tended to be inversely related to fasting estradiol (r=–0.264, p=0.076).
Conclusion: Compared with overweight African-American women, peripubertal girls had higher ghrelin as well as greater appetite after a standard meal. These results may suggest a dysregulation in ghrelin reflective of demands of growth.
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston