Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if urinary markers of intestinal epithelial damage differed among healthy individuals with obesity (n = 9; mean age 41 ± 6 yrs.; body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg·m -2 ) compared to healthy non-overweight/non-obese individuals (n = 9; mean age 35 ± 10 yrs.; BMI <25 kg·m-2 ) over a 12-wk period. During this time, all subjects were involved in a voluntary exercise program. Each week the subjects were measured for total body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (W/H), and BMI. Intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP; an intracellular intestinal epithelial cell protein), and claudin-3 (an intercellular tight junction protein) were measured in the urine of individuals at weeks 1, 6, and 12 of the study. A significant correlation was observed between urinary claudin-3 and BMI at weeks 6 and 12 of the study and when combining weeks 1, 6, and 12 in the group with obesity. However, there was no difference at any time point in urinary I-FABP or claudin-3 between the groups with or without obesity. Thus, these findings suggest that obesity does not increase intestinal epithelial damage in otherwise healthy individuals.