Advanced glycation end product intake during pregnancy and offspring allergy outcomes: A Prospective cohort study

Abstract

Background:Associations have been shown between concurrent assessment of dietary intake of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and childhood allergic outcomes. We examined the association between maternal AGEs intake and development of offspring asthma, wheeze, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and food allergies, and sought to determine whether the intake of AGEs was associated with cord sera cytokines/chemokines. Methods: Pregnant women ≥16 years were recruited in the Healthy Start study, a prospective pre-birth cohort from Colorado (N = 1410). The analysis included 962 dyads with adequate diet (≥2 recalls) and allergy outcome details. AGEs intake was estimated for each mother by matching intakes reported using 24-h dietary recalls during pregnancy to a reference database of commonly consumed foods' AGEs values. Child diagnoses of asthma and allergies up to 8 years were obtained from electronic medical records. Cord sera cytokines and chemokines were analysed in a subset (N = 462) of children. Results:The median [IQR] AGEs intake for the overall sample was 11,919 kU/day [8293,16,573]. Unadjusted analysis showed a positive association between maternal AGEs intake in pregnancy and rhinitis up to 8 years of age (HR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.06), but the association was attenuated and no longer significant in adjusted models (HR = 1.01; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.04). Both adjusted and unadjusted models showed no associations between AGEs intake in pregnancy and any of the other outcomes (p > .05). There were no significant associations between any cytokine or chemokine measured and AGEs intake or any of the outcomes studied (p > .05). Conclusion:The study showed that maternal AGEs intake was not associated with offspring asthma and allergy outcomes. AGEs exposure during pregnancy may not have the same impact on child development as postnatal exposure.

The role of epigenetics in multi‐generational transmission of asthma: An NIAID workshop report‐based narrative review

“…For example, maternal allergy – and hence presumably an altered in utero environment – has an additional effect on risk of allergy in the offspring 30 . Evidence for the in utero origins of asthma comes from associations of childhood asthma with maternal pre‐natal conditions and exposures such as maternal age, diet, smoking, infectious illness, stress, weight gain and exposure to farm animals 21,31,32 . The detection of asthma‐associated differential epigenetic programming in neonates also supports the possibility that asthma might originate in utero 33–35 …”

Primary Prevention of Pediatric Asthma through Nutritional Interventions

“…While it might be of clinical relevance, this finding was not statistically significant in an adjusted model [36]. Data from the same cohort study showed that maternal intake during pregnancy of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are contained in foods typical of the Western diet, such as burgers and fried foods, was not associated with offspring asthma and allergy outcomes up to age eight [37]. Other observational studies found either no significant association between maternal diet quality during pregnancy and asthma at 10 years old [38] or even a protective effect of a maternal Western diet pattern in pregnancy on the risk of childhood wheezing [39].…”

How advanced are we on the consequences of oral exposure to food contaminants on the occurrence of chronic non communicable diseases?

“…It was thus showed that exposure to AGEs through children's diet is associated to allergic outcomes. However, no association was found between maternal AGEs intake during pregnancy and allergic outcomes in offspring (Venter et al, 2021). The mechanisms therefore appear to be complex and further studies are needed to understand how AGEs can influence the allergic response.…”