Evaluation of Antioxidant Status and Lipid Peroxidation in Persons with Gluteofemoral and Abdominal Obesity in Benin City Nigeria

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic condition that impacts people's quality of life on a physiological, economic, and psychological level regardless of their cultural, economic, or ethnic background. It is the leading health burden of the twenty-first century. This study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant status and lipid peroxidation in persons with gluteofemoral and abdominal obesity in Benin City Nigeria. A total of 200 adult male and female subjects with age ranging from 18 to 65years were randomly recruited for this study. The test subjects consist of 100 male and female subjects with gluteofemoral and abdominal obesity who reside within Benin metropolis and the control subjects consist of age matched apparently healthy adult males and female subjects recruited from the University of Benin (100 subjects). Five milliliters (5 ml) of fasting venous blood sample was obtained from each participant for biochemical analysis. Antioxidant enzymes (Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and catalase (CAT) and Lipid Peroxidation biomarker (malondialdehyde (MDA) were assayed using the enzymatic colorimetric method. The results showed significantly increased mean serum MDA level (44.17 ± 6.89 Vs 30.74 ± 7.90; p<0.001) and decreased activities of SOD (3.60 ± 0.70 Vs 6.09 ± 1.22), GPX (65.00 ± 36.13 Vs 109.96 ± 10.04) and CAT (180.79 ± 25.62 Vs 223.28 ± 24.98) in the obese participants compared to the control group (p<0.001) respectively. Also, there were significantly increased mean serum MDA levels and decreased activities of SOD, GPX and CAT in the male and female obese participants compared to their control groups (p=0.001) respectively. Furthermore, there were significantly increased mean serum MDA levels and decreased activities of GPX and CAT in the participants with gluteofemoral obesity compared to those with abdominal obesity (p<0.001) respectively. This study revealed significant alterations in antioxidant status of obese persons with heightened oxidative stress. Therefore, increased oxidative stress and decreased levels of antioxidants in obese subjects, as revealed in the study may be significant as markers to prevent obesity and related complications.