High Dietary Salt Intake in Pediatric Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Not Related to Overweight and Obesity

Abstract

Aim: People around the world are consuming much more sodium than is physiologically necessary. A number of studies suggest that dietary sodium intake is related to weight gain. The aim of our study was to evaluate in a population of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus, possible correlations between the urinary sodium excretion (UNa24h), indirect marker of sodium intake, and both duration of diabetes and BMI z-score. Moreover, we also evaluated the correlation between UNa24h and duration of diabetes according with the presence/absence of overweight/obesity. Research Design and Methods: Children and adolescents aged between 4 and 18 years with type 1 diabetes were consecutively enrolled from Regional Center for Pediatric Diabetes in Naples. Urinary sodium concentrations were tested in three 24 h urine samples of 68 individuals (204 tests). Results: Mean UNa24h was 141.3±68.2 mmol/24h corresponding to 8.1±3.9 gr of NaCl intake. Seventyfive percent of subjects aged between 4 and 6 years, 95% of subjects aged between 7 and 10 years and 79.5% of subjects aged between 11 and 18 years consume more salt of the LARN’s advice. Urinary sodium excretion increased in relation to the increase of duration, in years, of diabetes (p=0.0027). No statistically significant relationship is between UNa24h (mmol/24h) and zBMI (p=0.705). Conclusions: This study shows that young patients with type 1 diabetes have high levels of UNa24h. Given the close correlation between the UNa24h and salt intake we can conclude that they take more salt with their diet. High salt intake is not related to overweight but to diabetes duration.