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Maternal, Perinatal and Pediatric Nutrition (Poster Session)

(P10-043-24) Gut Integrity Damage, Vitamin D Status and IL-17 levels in Children Participating in the MetA-Bone Trial

Sunday, June 30, 2024
11:45 AM – 12:45 PM CT
Location: Poster Board 537
Disclosure(s):
Jacqueline Hernandez, PhD, RDN, LD/N: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Jose A. Bastida Rodriguez, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Cristina Palacios, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: Vitamin D and IL-17 play an important role in preserving gut integrity. There are scarce studies evaluating gut integrity, vitamin D and IL-17 levels in adults and none in healthy children. This study evaluates the association between gut integrity damage, vitamin D status and IL-17 in children.

Methods: This cross-sectional analysis focuses on baseline data from 9-14 years old healthy children from the ongoing MetA-Bone Trial. Socio-demographic variables were collected with a questionnaire. Measures included: gut integrity damage (Intestinal Fatty Acid Binding Protein; I-FABP), and IL-17 determined by ELISA in 24-h urine; serum 25(OH)D levels (commercial lab), BMI percentile, and diet (24-hr recalls; analyzed with NDSR). Analysis included descriptive statistics, t-tests, and logistic regressions (adjusted for age, sex, and race).

Results: On 138 participants, mean age was 12.1±1.5 years, 53.6% were male, 44.2% were of mixed race, 61% were Hispanic/Latino; 64.8% had a BMI < 85th percentile; 48.6% had vitamin D insufficiency. Median I-FABP level was 24.5 pg/ml (IQR 13.3-50.9). Almost half of participants (49.6%) exhibited gut integrity damage (I-FABP levels above the median). Participants with gut integrity damage had lower vitamin D than participants with no gut integrity damage (24.6±6.7 vs. 27.7±9.0; P=0.025). Participants with vitamin D insufficiency were 3.5 times more likely to present gut integrity damage than those with optimal vitamin D levels (OR: 3.5, 95%CI: 1.4, 8.3; P=0.005). Gut integrity damage was associated with IL-17 levels below the median [31.7 (13.4-83.8) pg/ml] (P=0.041) after adjusting for covariates. Dietary fiber was not associated with gut integrity damage (P=0.164).

Conclusions: Vitamin D insufficiency may compromise the gut integrity in healthy children. Gut integrity damage was associated with low levels of IL-17 suggesting an impairment on the intestinal barrier repair system. Dietary fiber was not associated with gut integrity damage. More research is needed to understand the role of vitamin D status and IL-17 levels and gut integrity in healthy children.

Funding Sources: National Institutes of Health (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NICHD)