Mothers' dietary intake linked with long term health risk of infants

A new study published in the American Journal of Nutrition this month, reports an analysis of diets of 169 new mothers and the association with their newborn’s epigenetic or biological age. The study by a team from the University of Sydney and lead by Associate Professor Michael Skilton discovered that the newborn blood measures of accelerating ageing were significantly raised in newborns of mothers who reported a higher intake of saturated and monosaturated fats while pregnant. The research reported that for every 5 per cent extra energy a mother consumed in the form of saturated fat, the epigenetic age of her child was, on average, six weeks higher. When that extra energy was consumed in the form of monounsaturated fat, the epigenetic age was, on average, 12 weeks higher. Importantly though, not all forms of fat were associated with epigenetic ageing with the most beneficial fat appearing to be in the form of Omega 3 fatty acids, in particular, α-linolenic acid (ALA), which is abundant in nuts and seeds. The study also found an association between higher carbohydrate intake during pregnancy and better epigenetic ageing in the offspring, but no association with protein intake.

This study highlights the importance of epigenetics, defined as the external modifications to DNA that turn genes "on" or "off." These modifications do not change the DNA sequence, but instead, they affect how cells "read" genes. Other reported examples of epigenetic during pregnancy include reports that children have increased rates of coronary heart disease and obesity after maternal exposure to famine during early pregnancy compared to those not exposed to famine¹ and adults that were prenatally exposed to famine conditions have been reported to have a significantly higher incidence of schizophrenia². 

This study adds to existing evidence of the potential to influence the epigenetics of our offspring and the potential influence of a mother’s dietary intake during pregnancy and offspring epigenetic ageing. The study also highlights the complex relationship between dietary fat and health in general as many studies have reported a beneficial association between monounsaturated fat intake later in life and heart health, reinforcing the need for individually tailored nutritional advice tailored to different stages of our life journey and circumstances.

The full study can be accessed here.

 Other related studies cited above:

1. Painter R.C., Roseboom T.J., Bleker O.P. (2005) Prenatal exposure to the Dutch famine and disease in later life: an overview. Reproductive Toxicology 20, 345-52 (2005)
2. Os J, Selten JP. (1998) Prenatal exposure to maternal stress and subsequent schizophrenia. The May 1940 invasion of The Netherlands. Br J Psychiatry 172:324-6