scholarly journals Maternal Obesity and the Early Origins of Childhood Obesity: Weighing Up the Benefits and Costs of Maternal Weight Loss in the Periconceptional Period for the Offspring

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Zhang ◽  
Leewen Rattanatray ◽  
Janna L. Morrison ◽  
Lisa M. Nicholas ◽  
Shervi Lie ◽  
...  

There is a need to understand the separate or interdependent contributions of maternal prepregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain, glycaemic control, and macronutrient intake on the metabolic outcomes for the offspring. Experimental studies highlight that there may be separate influences of maternal obesity during the periconceptional period and late gestation on the adiposity of the offspring. While a period of dietary restriction in obese mothers may ablate the programming of obesity, it is associated with an activation of the stress axis in the offspring. Thus, maternal obesity may result in epigenetic changes which predict the need for efficient fat storage in postnatal life, while maternal weight loss may lead to epigenetic changes which predict later adversity. Thus, development of dietary interventions for obese mothers during the periconceptional period requires a greater evidence base which allows the effective weighing up of the metabolic benefits and costs for the offspring.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Noemí Gaytán-Pacheco ◽  
Victoria Lima-Rogel ◽  
Alejandro Méndez-Mancilla ◽  
Francisco Escalante-Padrón ◽  
Juan Carlos Toro-Ortíz ◽  
...  

<b><i>Background:</i></b> There has been a global increase in the prevalence of obesity in pregnant women in recent years. Animal studies have shown that intrauterine environment associated with maternal obesity leads to epigenetic changes. However, the effects of epigenetic changes occurring before birth in response to maternal conditions have not been clearly characterized in humans. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> The aim of the study was to analyze peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ expression in cell cultures from newborns from mothers with overweight and obesity, in response to in vitro metabolic challenges and their relationship with microRNA profile and cytokine expression. <b><i>Methods/Study design:</i></b> The profile of circulating microRNAs from 72 mother-child pairs (including healthy infants born to normal weight [<i>n</i> = 35], overweight [<i>n</i> = 25], and obese [<i>n</i> = 12] mothers) was determined through real-time PCR, and the PPAR-γ expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures from offspring was analyzed after in vitro challenges. <b><i>Results:</i></b> miR-146a, miR-155, and miR-378a were upregulated in overweight mothers, while miR-378a was upregulated in obese mothers compared to normal weight mothers. In children from overweight mothers, miR-155 and miR-221 were downregulated and miR-146a was upregulated, while offspring of mothers with obesity showed downregulation of miR-155, miR-221, and miR-1301. These microRNAs have direct or indirect relation with PPAR-γ expression. In vitro exposure to high triglyceride and exposure to miR-378a induced a higher expression of PPAR-γ in cells from offspring of mothers with overweight and obesity. In contrast, cells from offspring of mothers with obesity cultured with high glucose concentrations showed PPAR-γ downregulation. IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α expression in cells of offspring of overweight and obese mothers differed from that of offspring of normal weight mothers. Limitation of our study is the small sample size. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The blood microRNA profile, and in vitro PPAR-γ and inflammatory cytokine expression in cells of newborn infants are associated with maternal obesity indicating that epigenetic marks may be established during intrauterine development. <b><i>Key Message:</i></b> Neonatal microRNA profile is associated with maternal weight. Neonatal microRNA profile is independent of maternal microRNA profile. PPAR-γ expression in newborn cell cultures is affected by maternal weight


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1572
Author(s):  
Sofiane Safi-Stibler ◽  
Etienne A. Thévenot ◽  
Luc Jouneau ◽  
Mélanie Jouin ◽  
Alexandre Seyer ◽  
...  

Nutritional changes during developmental windows are of particular concern in offspring metabolic disease. Questions are emerging concerning the role of maternal weight changes before conception, particularly for weight loss, in the development of diet-related disorders. Understanding the physiological pathways affected by the maternal trajectories in the offspring is therefore essential, but a broad overview is still lacking. We recently reported both metabolic and behavioral negative outcomes in offspring born to obese or weight-loss mothers and fed a control of high-fat diet, suggesting long-term modeling of metabolic pathways needing to be further characterized. Using non-targeted LC–HRMS, we investigated the impact of maternal and post-weaning metabolic status on the adult male offspring’s metabolome in three tissues involved in energy homeostasis: liver, hypothalamus and olfactory bulb. We showed that post-weaning diet interfered with the abundance of several metabolites, including 1,5-anhydroglucitol, saccharopine and β-hydroxybutyrate, differential in the three tissues. Moreover, maternal diet had a unique impact on the abundance of two metabolites in the liver. Particularly, anserine abundance, lowered by maternal obesity, was normalized by a preconceptional weight loss, whatever the post-weaning diet. This study is the first to identify a programming long-term effect of maternal preconception obesity on the offspring metabolome.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135910532199970
Author(s):  
Joanne A Rathbone ◽  
Tegan Cruwys ◽  
Jolanda Jetten

This project investigated how alternative non-stigmatising public health messages influence people’s health behaviours and well-being, relative to traditional stigmatising weight-loss messages. We conducted three experimental studies (total N = 1281) that compared traditional weight-loss messages to weight-neutral messages (Study 1), weight-inclusive messages (Study 2) and size acceptance messages (Study 3). Results revealed that public health messages have differential effects on health behaviours and well-being, depending on the audience’s BMI or perceived weight. However, campaigns that challenge weight stigma and promote body positivity have positive effects on some psychological indicators of health and well-being for people of all body sizes.


2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 319 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. McCoard ◽  
W. C. McNabb ◽  
S. W. Peterson ◽  
S. N. McCutcheon ◽  
P. M. Harris

Muscle growth, myofibre number, type and morphometry were studied in large hindlimb muscles of single and twin fetal lambs during mid to late gestation. Placental insufficiency, evident by lower total placentome weight and number per fetus, resulted in reduced fetal weights from 100 to 140 days gestation in twins compared with singletons (at 140 days: 5016 108 g v. 5750 246 g, respectively; P<0.05). However, competition between littermates did not consistently reduce muscle mass (15–22%) until 140 days gestation. Apparent myofibre number increased with age, indicating that the full complement of myofibres in some large hindlimb muscles may be achieved during early postnatal life. Litter size did not impact on apparent myofibre number in the semitendinosus, plantaris or gastrocnemius muscles. However, a transient effect on myofibre number in the adductor femoris muscle was observed from 80–120 days gestation. The phenotypic maturation of myofibres was unaffected by increasing litter size. Smaller muscle mass in twins was associated with smaller myofibre cross-sectional area in the semitendinosus, adductor femoris and gastrocnemius muscles at 140 days gestation. A similar trend was observed for the plantaris muscle. These results indicate that while competition between littermates for nutrients in late gestation can impact on both fetal and muscle mass, the fetus has the capacity to buffer against the effects of restricted nutrient supply on myofibre hyperplasia and phenotypic maturation, but myofibre hypertrophy is compromised.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Li ◽  
D. M. Sloboda ◽  
M. H. Vickers

The incidence of obesity and overweight has reached epidemic proportions in the developed world as well as in those countries transitioning to first world economies, and this represents a major global health problem. Concern is rising over the rapid increases in childhood obesity and metabolic disease that will translate into later adult obesity. Although an obesogenic nutritional environment and increasingly sedentary lifestyle contribute to our risk of developing obesity, a growing body of evidence links early life nutritional adversity to the development of long-term metabolic disorders. In particular, the increasing prevalence of maternal obesity and excess maternal weight gain has been associated with a heightened risk of obesity development in offspring in addition to an increased risk of pregnancy-related complications. The mechanisms that link maternal obesity to obesity in offspring and the level of gene-environment interactions are not well understood, but the early life environment may represent a critical window for which intervention strategies could be developed to curb the current obesity epidemic. This paper will discuss the various animal models of maternal overnutrition and their importance in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying altered obesity risk in offspring.


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