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Mediation effect of body mass index on the association between serum magnesium level and insulin resistance in children from Mexico City

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

Reduced serum magnesium (Mg) levels have been associated with obesity, insulin resistance (IR), type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in adults. However, in the children population, the evidence is still limited. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to analyze the association of serum Mg levels with the frequency of overweight and obesity and cardiometabolic traits in 189 schoolchildren (91 girls and 98 boys) between 6 and 12 years old from Mexico City.

Subjects/Methods

Anthropometrical data were collected and biochemical parameters were measured by enzymatic colorimetric assay. Serum Mg level was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index was used as a surrogate marker to evaluate IR.

Results

Serum Mg level was negatively associated with overweight (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.377, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.231–0.614, p < 0.001) and obesity (OR = 0.345, 95% CI 0.202–0.589, p < 0.001). Serum Mg level resulted negatively associated with body mass index (BMI, β = −1.16 ± 0.26, p < 0.001), BMI z-score (β = −0.48 ± 0.10, p < 0.001) and TyG index (β = −0.04 ± 0.04, p = 0.041). Through a mediation analysis was estimated that BMI z-score accounts for 60.5% of the negative association of serum Mg level with IR (Sobel test: z = 2.761; p = 0.005).

Conclusion

Our results evidence that BMI z-score mediate part of the negative association of serum Mg level and IR in Mexican schoolchildren.

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Fig. 1: Serum Mg level in children with normal weight, overweight and obesity.
Fig. 2: Simple mediation model evaluating the effect of body mass index (BMI) z-score as a mediator of the association between serum Mg level and insulin resistance.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all participants of this study.

Funding

The present work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) in the following projects: Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología y Gestión Integrada del Agua (Project: 315880-CONACYT) and by Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez (Fondos Federales HIM/2013/003).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: María Judith Rios-Lugo, Jesús Isimar Serafín-Fabián.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Jenny Vilchis-Gil, Miguel Vazquez-Moreno.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Enfermería y Nutrición, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Avda. Niño Artillero 130, CP 78210, San Luis Potosí, SLP, México

    María Judith Rios-Lugo

  2. Sección de Medicina Molecular y Traslacional, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de Salud y Biomedicina. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Avda. Sierra Leona 550, CP 78210, San Luis, SLP, México

    María Judith Rios-Lugo & Israel Martínez- Navarro

  3. Unidad de Investigación Médica en Bioquímica, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI. Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, México City, México

    Jesús Isimar Serafín-Fabián

  4. Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero. Chilpancingo de los Bravo, Guerrero, México

    Jesús Isimar Serafín-Fabián

  5. Instituto de Investigación de Zonas Desérticas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Altair 200, CP 78377, San Luis, SLP, México

    Héctor Hernández-Mendoza

  6. Universidad del Centro de México, Capitán Caldera 75, CP 78250, San Luis, SLP, México

    Héctor Hernández-Mendoza, Miguel Cruz & Miguel Vazquez-Moreno

  7. Unidad de Investigación Epidemiológica en Endocrinología y Nutrición, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Secretaría de Salud, CP 06720, Ciudad de México, México

    Miguel Klünder-Klünder & Jenny Vilchis-Gil

  8. Programa Multidisciplinario de Posgrado en Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Zona Universitaria, Av. Manuel Nava 201, CP 78210, San Luis Potosí, SLP, México

    Estefania Chavez-Prieto

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Contributions

MJRL, HHM, JISF, JVG, and MVM, designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the manuscript, and designed tables and figures. MJRL, HHM, MKK, MC, JISF, ECP, IMN, JVG, and MVM, collect the data and critically reviewed the manuscript. MJRL, HHM, ECP, and IMN, samples treatment and analysis by ICP-MS. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jenny Vilchis-Gil or Miguel Vazquez-Moreno.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

This observational study was conducted according to the guidelines established in the Declaration of Helsinki and based on the Regulations of the General Health Law on Health Research in Mexico. The research protocol was approved by the Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez Research, Ethics, and Biosecurity Committees (approval register: HIM/2013/003).

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Rios-Lugo, M.J., Serafín-Fabián, J.I., Hernández-Mendoza, H. et al. Mediation effect of body mass index on the association between serum magnesium level and insulin resistance in children from Mexico City. Eur J Clin Nutr (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-024-01447-3

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