Increased Urinary L-Histidine Concentrations in Children with Obesity

L-histidine plays an important role in the growth of infants and young children as well as positively improves insulin resistance through suppressed inflammation. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between L-histidine levels and obesity and evaluate the feasibility of L-histidine as an important indicator of auxiliary diagnosis for pediatric obesity. Thus, the urinary content of L-histidine from 74 children with obesity and 84 normal weight were determined and analyzed in the study. Results found that the L-histidine concentration in urine (median [interquartile range] mg/L) was 8.29 (4.42-20.70) mg/L in the children with obesity and 5.60 (2.16-14.06) mg/L in the normal-weight children (P<0.01), 5.71 (2.57-17.15) mg/L in girls and 9.92 (5.54-23.33) mg/L in boys (P<0.05). L-histidine concentration in severe obesity children were significantly higher than that of mild obesity (P<0.05). The urinary L-histidine levels were positively correlate with BMI and the mean and median of L-histidine concentration in urine increase with children’s obese levels.