Table 1. Baseline characteristics of the study population.

Data are given as mean ± SD unless otherwise indicated.

Characteristics	Number of children N = 400
Female, N (%)	207 (52%)
Age (yrs)	8.2 ± 0.16
Weight (kg)	28.0 ± 4.90
Height (cm)	131.4 ± 5.34
SDS-BMI†	-0.2 ± 0.96
BMI Categorization, N (%)‡
Underweight	44 (11%)
Normal weight	322 (80%)
Overweight	34 (8%)
Plasma leptin (μg/l)*	5.2 ± 5.76
Plasma adiponectin (μg/ml) *	12.5 ± 3.68
Plasma insulin (mU/l) *	2.9 ± 1.52

^† Calculated according to the German reference data set [14]

^‡ Underweight: <10^th percentile; normal weight: 10^th - 90^th percentile; overweight: >90^th percentile

* Blood withdrawal was after an overnight fast of 10 hours.