Maternal Dietary Quality and Dietary Inflammation Associations with Offspring Growth, Placental Development, and DNA Methylation

Abstract

The ‘Developmental Origins of Health and Diseases’ hypothesis posits that prenatal maternal diet influences offspring growth and later life health outcomes. Dietary assessment has focused on selected nutrients. However, this approach does not consider the complex interactions between foods and nutrients. To provide a more comprehensive approach to public health, dietary indices have been developed to assess dietary quality, dietary inflammation and risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Thus far, their use in the context of placental development is limited and associations with offspring outcomes have been inconsistent. Although epidemiological studies have focused on the role of maternal diet on foetal programming, the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Some evidence suggests these associations may be driven by placental and epigenetic changes. In this narrative review, we examine the current literature regarding relationships between key validated diet quality scores (Dietary Inflammatory Index [DII], Mediterranean diet [MD], Healthy Eating Index [HEI], Alternative Healthy Eating Index [AHEI], Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension [DASH], Glycaemic Index [GI] and Glycaemic Load [GL]) in pregnancy and birth and long-term offspring outcomes. We summarise findings, discuss potential underlying placental and epigenetic mechanisms, in particular DNA methylation, and highlight the need for further research and public health strategies that incorporate diet quality and epigenetics.

Impact of Endocrine Disruptors upon Non-Genetic Inheritance

“…Health and behavior disorders were also detected at a higher incidence in the offspring when the mother had been exposed to famine [ 99 ]. Oppositely, in humans, increased maternal BMI was associated with an alteration in DNA methylation landscape in offspring both in neonates and in later childhood [ 102 ]. This observation suggests that differential gene methylation and thus gene regulation is highly dependent on the maternal environment [ 103 ].…”

Framework of Methodology to Assess the Link between A Posteriori Dietary Patterns and Nutritional Adequacy: Application to Pregnancy

“…In this context, the multifactorial benefits of the Mediterranean-type diet on pregnancy outcomes and offspring health have been well documented in a large and growing body of literature [ 2 , 3 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 23 , 25 , 60 ]. In fact, the superiority of this pattern is not limited to the appropriate “nutritional adequacy profile” but further expands towards a strong correlation with a low intake of proinflammatory nutrients, such as refined sugars, starches and SFA [ 30 , 53 , 61 ].…”

“…Pregnancy is an essential stage of the lifecycle, during which the in utero nutritional environment is sensitive to the habitual diet of the mother [ 1 ]. Indeed, this critical period of life is widely recognized as a key “window of opportunity” for linking early nutrition with healthy living, growth and development [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. However, in the context of the global nutritional transition to increased consumption of energy-dense but nutrient-poor diets, nutritional inadequacies during pregnancy are a common challenge even for the developed world [ 2 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

“…Indeed, this critical period of life is widely recognized as a key “window of opportunity” for linking early nutrition with healthy living, growth and development [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. However, in the context of the global nutritional transition to increased consumption of energy-dense but nutrient-poor diets, nutritional inadequacies during pregnancy are a common challenge even for the developed world [ 2 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Therefore, the assessment of dietary patterns and diet quality may contribute to the development of public health strategies and preventive actions [ 11 ].…”

Impact of Diet Quality during Pregnancy on Gestational Weight Gain and Selected Adipokines—Results of a German Cross-Sectional Study

“…Preliminary results indicate a beneficial effect of regular physical activity on leptin sensitivity [ 14 ], plasma leptin levels [ 15 , 16 , 17 ], as well as IL-6 concentrations [ 15 , 18 ] for example. Furthermore, a healthy diet may contribute to attenuating the decrease in adiponectin levels during gestation [ 19 , 20 ] and has been recognized as an important modulator of chronic inflammation [ 21 ].…”