SupplementalScience.com

Mom’s Diet Always Important

By Dr. Carl Keen

In the best of times, the chronic consumption of a diet that is high in fat can present a number of health challenges. Recent research suggests that the consumption of such diets may be particularly risky during pregnancy.

Liang and co-workers reported that in contrast to control mice, the adult offspring of mice fed high fat diets for four weeks prior to pregnancy, and throughout pregnancy and lactation, were characterized by a form of metabolic syndrome, which included hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, obesity and hypertension. Significantly, this condition arose even though the mice were fed control diets after weaning.

When the high fat diets were supplemented with quercetin, some of the above signs were reduced. The authors speculated that imprinting effects were induced by the high fat diet, and that these effects were due in part to fat-induced oxidative stress. Consistent with the above report, Bilbo and Tsang reported that in mice, maternal obesity induced by a high fat diet resulted in persistent behavioral changes in the offspring, even when the offspring were fed control diets.

The authors noted that the offspring of the obese mother mice were also characterized by a heightened production of proinflammatory regulating proteins in response to a bacterial challenge. The authors suggest that a condition of chronic inflammatory stress contributed to the behavioral abnormalities.

While it might be tempting to ignore results obtained from mouse models, Sullivan and coworkers reported that in non-human primates, the offspring of mothers fed high fat diets were also characterized by behavioral abnormalities, particularly anxiety.

Do similar types of diet related predisposition occur in humans? At this time we do not know for certain, but evidence is accumulating that some similar effects might occur. Most recently, Brion and coworkers reported that maternal macronutrient and energy intakes during pregnancy seem to affect the diet preferences of their children, even at the age of 10; with the children of women who consumed high fat diets during pregnancy showing a similar preference for such diets. Interestingly, the food choices of the father were not observed to have this effect.

Collectively, these studies support the concept that the chronic consumption of high fat diets during pregnancy should, in most cases, be avoided. The results also support the thinking that chronic inflammation and oxidative stress can be significant factors that underlie the dangers of excess body fat.

Liang C, et al. Intrauterine exposure to high saturated fat diet elevates risk of adult-onset chronic diseases in C57BL/6 mice. Birth Defects Research. (Part B) 86:377-384 (2009)

Bilbo, SD and Tsang V. Enduring consequences of maternal obesity on brain inflammation and behavior of offspring. FASEB J (Feb 2010)

Sullivan EL et al. Chronic consumption of a high-fat diet during pregnancy causes perturbations in the serotonergic system and increased anxiety like behavior in non-human primate offspring. J Neurosci 10:3826-30 (2010)

Brion MJ et al. Maternal macronutrient and energy intakes in pregnancy and offspring intake at 10 y. Exploring parental comparisons and prenatal effects . AJCN 91:748-56 (2010)

Posted in Carl Keen, Food, Health & Wellness, Nutrition, Prenatal Health, Uncategorized |