New blood test could provide early warning of diabetes in children

A new type of blood test using lipids could help identify children at risk of obesity-related complications, including type 2 diabetes, liver and heart disease, scientists say.

A new study from King’s College London published in Natural medicine reveals a new relationship between lipids and metabolic diseases in children, which could serve as an early warning system for conditions such as liver disease.

By using machines already available in hospitals to test babies’ blood plasma, researchers suggest it could help doctors detect early signs of illness in children more quickly and help them access the right treatment.

The findings also challenge the widespread belief that cholesterol is a major cause of obesity-related complications in children, by identifying new lipid molecules that contribute to health risks such as blood pressure, but are not solely correlated with a child’s weight.

Lipids have traditionally been thought of as fatty acids in the body, whether they are good or bad types of cholesterol or triglycerides, the fats found in the bloodstream and most common in the human body. Recent studies by the same group of scientists have suggested that the situation is more complex.

Using a chemistry-related technique called mass spectrometry, current data indicates that there are thousands of different types of lipids present in the body, each with distinct functions.

The team took a control sample of 1,300 obese children and assessed the lipids in their blood. Then, 200 of them followed the HOLBAEK model, a lifestyle intervention for obese people that is widely used in Denmark, for a year.

Subsequent readings showed that in the intervention group, lipid levels linked to diabetes risk, insulin resistance and blood pressure decreased, despite limited improvements in some children’s BMI.

Dr Cristina Legido-Quigley, Group Leader in Systems Medicine at King’s College London, Head of Systems Medicine at the Steno Diabetes Centre Copenhagen (SDCC) and lead author, said: “For decades, scientists have relied on a lipid classification system that divided them into good and bad cholesterol, but now, with a simple blood test, we can assess a much wider range of lipid molecules that could serve as vital warning signs of disease. In the future, this could become a completely new way of assessing a person’s personal risk of disease, and by studying how to modify lipid molecules in the body, we could even prevent metabolic diseases like diabetes altogether.”

Obesity continues to be a risk factor for diseases like fatty liver disease, but the team hopes doctors can use these measures to treat children when they are at risk and not just a little bit fatter than their peers.

Dr Karolina Sulek, who was involved in the study and conducted the analysis at SDCC, said: “Early recognition of children at risk of these life-threatening diseases is critical. The study provides strong evidence of the urgent need to manage obesity and gives parents the confidence to intervene in their children’s lives with more compassion, helping them lose weight.”

The next step for researchers is to understand how genetics affects lipids and what that means for metabolic diseases, as well as how these lipids can be modified to improve health.