Patterns of olfactory perception, eating behavior and body composition in adolescents with different body weights.

purposeTo evaluate associations between olfactory function, eating behavior, and characteristics of body composition in adolescents with different body weights.

methodsThe study included 87 children aged 10-17 years with normal and excess body weight. The study group consisted of overweight and obese adolescents. All children underwent anthropometry with calculation of SDS body mass index (WHO Anthro Plus), body composition was assessed using Inbody 770, diagnosis of olfactory dysfunction was performed using a set of Sniffin Sticks (Odofin, Germany). The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire was used for assessment of eating disorders. IBM SPSS. Statistics v.20 program was used for statistical analysis.

resultsIn adolescents with decreased sense of smell, regardless of SDS BMI, restrictive type of eating behavior was more common (p = 0.04). Among girls, hypoosmia was diagnosed in 21.7% (n = 10) of cases, being accompanied by a higher proportion of body fat, higher prevalence of emotionogenic type of eating behavior compared to girls without olfactory impairment, who, on the contrary, more frequently exhibited the restrictive type of eating disorder. Among boys, hypoosmia was found in 39% (n = 16) of cases. There were no statistically significant differences with the normoosmia subgroup in terms of eating behavior type and body composition parameters. Girls with hypoosmia showed positive associations between body fat percentage and discriminatory olfactory test results (r = 0.805; p = 0.020), externalizing type of eating behavior and BMI-FOR-AGE (r = 0.873; p = 0.005), body fat mass (r = 0.764; p = 0.027) and body fat percentage (r = 0.805; p = 0.016). The emotiogenic type of eating behavior showed significant correlations with total body phase angle (r = 0.805; p = 0.029), skeletal muscle mass (r = 0.791; p = 0.034). In boys with hypoosmia, positive associations were found between restrictive type of eating behavior and BMI-FOR-AGE (r = 0.784; p = 0.002), visceral fat area (r = 0.701; p = 0.008), body fat mass (r = 0.660; p = 0.014) and body fat percentage (r = 0.742; p = 0.004).

conclusionThe results of this study suggest that hypoosmia is associated with changes in eating behavior and body composition in adolescents with different body weight, yet the direction of such casual relationship remains unclear.