scholarly journals Maternal Obesity, Inflammation, and Developmental Programming

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Segovia ◽  
Mark H. Vickers ◽  
Clint Gray ◽  
Clare M. Reynolds

The prevalence of obesity, especially in women of child-bearing age, is a global health concern. In addition to increasing the immediate risk of gestational complications, there is accumulating evidence that maternal obesity also has long-term consequences for the offspring. The concept of developmental programming describes the process in which an environmental stimulus, including altered nutrition, during critical periods of development can program alterations in organogenesis, tissue development, and metabolism, predisposing offspring to obesity and metabolic and cardiovascular disorders in later life. Although the mechanisms underpinning programming of metabolic disorders remain poorly defined, it has become increasingly clear that low-grade inflammation is associated with obesity and its comorbidities. This review will discuss maternal metainflammation as a mediator of programming in insulin sensitive tissues in offspring. Use of nutritional anti-inflammatories in pregnancy including omega 3 fatty acids, resveratrol, curcumin, and taurine may provide beneficial intervention strategies to ameliorate maternal obesity-induced programming.

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 529-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Segovia ◽  
M. H. Vickers ◽  
C. M. Reynolds

Obesity is a global epidemic, affecting both developed and developing countries. The related metabolic consequences that arise from being overweight or obese are a paramount global health concern, and represent a significant burden on healthcare systems. Furthermore, being overweight or obese during pregnancy increases the risk of offspring developing obesity and other related metabolic complications in later life, which can therefore perpetuate a transgenerational cycle of obesity. Obesity is associated with a chronic state of low-grade metabolic inflammation. However, the role of maternal obesity-mediated alterations in inflammatory processes as a mechanism underpinning developmental programming in offspring is less understood. Further, the use of anti-inflammatory agents as an intervention strategy to ameliorate or reverse the impact of adverse developmental programming in the setting of maternal obesity has not been well studied. This review will discuss the impact of maternal obesity on key inflammatory pathways, impact on pregnancy and offspring outcomes, potential mechanisms and avenues for intervention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1640
Author(s):  
Klara Suneson ◽  
Jesper Lindahl ◽  
Simon Chamli Hårsmar ◽  
Gustav Söderberg ◽  
Daniel Lindqvist

Treatment of depression is hampered by the failure to identify distinct symptom profiles with distinct pathophysiologies that differentially respond to distinct treatments. We posit that inflammatory depression is a meaningful depression subtype associated with specific symptoms and biological abnormalities. We review several upstream, potentially causative, mechanisms driving low-grade inflammation in this subtype of depression. We also discuss downstream mechanisms mediating the link between inflammation and symptoms of depression, including alterations in dopaminergic neurotransmission and tryptophan metabolism. Finally, we review evidence for several non-pharmacological interventions for inflammatory depression, including probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, and physical exercise interventions. While some evidence suggests that these interventions may be efficacious in inflammatory depression, future clinical trials should consider enriching patient populations for inflammatory markers, or stratify patients by inflammatory status, to confirm or refute this hypothesis.


Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastià Galmés ◽  
Margalida Cifre ◽  
Andreu Palou ◽  
Paula Oliver ◽  
Francisca Serra

Omega-3 rich diets have been shown to improve inflammatory status. However, in an ex vivo system of human blood cells, the efficacy of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) modulating lipid metabolism and cytokine response is attenuated in overweight subjects and shows high inter-individual variability. This suggests that obesity may be exerting a synergistic effect with genetic background disturbing the anti-inflammatory potential of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In the present work, a genetic score aiming to explore the risk associated to low grade inflammation and obesity (LGI-Ob) has been elaborated and assessed as a tool to contribute to discern population at risk for metabolic syndrome. Pro-inflammatory gene expression and cytokine production as a response to omega-3 were associated with LGI-Ob score; and lower anti-inflammatory effect of PUFA was observed in subjects with a high genetic score. Furthermore, overweight/obese individuals showed positive correlation of both plasma C-Reactive Protein and triglyceride/HDLc-index with LGI-Ob; and high LGI-Ob score was associated with greater hypertension (p = 0.047), Type 2 diabetes (p = 0.026), and metabolic risk (p = 0.021). The study shows that genetic variation can influence inflammation and omega-3 response, and that the LGI-Ob score could be a useful tool to classify subjects at inflammatory risk and more prone to suffer metabolic syndrome and associated metabolic disturbances.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Shubhashree Venkatesh ◽  
Anita Nath ◽  
Sheeba Balan ◽  
Vindhya J ◽  
Chandra S. Metgud ◽  
...  

Background: Worldwide, the occurrence of obesity has markedly increased over the past decades with serious public health consequences. Obese pregnant women are more likely to develop hypertension, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes, resulting in obstetric complications which in turn may contribute to an increase in adverse child outcomes and maternal mortality. The present study was done to determine the prevalence of obesity and its association with socio-demographic variables, obstetric history and mental health. Methods: This study was nested within an ongoing cohort study, CASCADE, in a public hospital in Bangalore. The study participants comprised of 280 pregnant women who were 18 years of age and above, with a gestational age of less than 24 weeks, enrolled between a period of August 1st, 2017 until April 30th, 2018. Weight and height were measured using calibrated devices to calculate the body mass index. Results: The prevalence of obesity was observed to be 33.9% among the pregnant mothers. Obesity was found to be significantly associated with age, history of abortion, gravidity on multivariate logistic regression. No association was found with depression and anxiety. Conclusions: Obesity is an important health concern among urban pregnant women in the region of South India. The prevalence is much higher than that reported in other studies. Increasing age, multigravidity and past history of abortion were significantly associated with maternal obesity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 242 (1) ◽  
pp. T81-T94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare M Reynolds ◽  
Mark H Vickers

Alterations in the environment during critical periods of development, including altered maternal nutrition, can increase the risk for the development of a range of metabolic, cardiovascular and reproductive disorders in offspring in adult life. Following the original epidemiological observations of David Barker that linked perturbed fetal growth to adult disease, a wide range of experimental animal models have provided empirical support for the developmental programming hypothesis. Although the mechanisms remain poorly defined, adipose tissue has been highlighted as playing a key role in the development of many disorders that manifest in later life. In particular, adipokines, including leptin and adiponectin, primarily secreted by adipose tissue, have now been shown to be important mediators of processes underpinning several phenotypic features associated with developmental programming including obesity, insulin sensitivity and reproductive disorders. Moreover, manipulation of adipokines in early life has provided for potential strategies to ameliorate or reverse the adverse sequalae that are associated with aberrant programming and provided insight into some of the mechanisms involved in the development of chronic disease across the lifecourse.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Kelly Souza Silveira ◽  
Thatianne Moreira Silva Oliveira ◽  
Patrícia Amaro Andrade ◽  
Helen Hermana Miranda Hermsdorff ◽  
Carla de Oliveira Barbosa Rosa ◽  
...  

It is known that the dietary pattern and macronutrients profile may influence the expression and secretion of inflammatory biomarkers, and the low-grade inflammation is associated with the manifestation of noncommunicable chronic diseases. Therefore, this review aimed to present and discuss the role of dietary patterns and macronutrients on the variation of inflammatory markers related to NCD risk. Scientific evidences within the last five years based on clinical trials, case-controls, cohorts, and cross-sectional studies indicate that normocaloric, carbohydrate-moderated, low-glycemic index, protein-moderated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich, omega-3, and low-saturated fat diets display positive effects on the inflammatory state, both in healthy individuals and in those with cardiovascular risk, although the second group seems to benefit more from changes in the dietary profile.


2011 ◽  
Vol 152 (37) ◽  
pp. 1477-1485 ◽  
Author(s):  
János Fehér ◽  
Illés Kovács ◽  
Corrado Balacco Gabrieli

Recent studies have revealed that inflammation, among other factors, may be involved in the pathogenesis of depression. One line of studies has shown that depression is frequently associated with manifest gastrointestinal inflammations and autoimmune diseases as well as with cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, type 2-diabetes and also cancer, in which chronic low-grade inflammation is a significant contributing factor. Thus depression may be a neuropsychiatric manifestation of a chronic inflammatory syndrome. Another line of studies has shown that the primary cause of inflammation may be the dysfunction of the “gut-brain axis”. Although, this is a bidirectional mechanism, life style factors may primarily affect the symbiosis between host mucous membrane and the microbiota. Local inflammation through the release of cytokines, neuropeptides and eicosanoids may also influence the function of the brain and of other organs. Role of metabolic burst due to inflammation represents a new aspect in both pathophysiology and treatment of the depression. Finally, an increasing number of clinical studies have shown that treating gastrointestinal inflammations with probiotics, vitamin B, D and omega 3 fatty acids, through attenuating proinflammatory stimuli to brain, may also improve depression symptoms and quality of life. All these findings justify an assumption that treating gastrointestinal inflammations may improve the efficacy of the currently used treatment modalities of depression and related diseases. However, further studies are certainly needed to confirm these findings. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 1477–1485.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 69-69
Author(s):  
Adam J Moeser

Abstract Prenatal and early postnatal life represents critical periods of development across species for many organ systems including immune, nervous, reproductive, and gastrointestinal systems. A high level of plasticity exists during these periods, and thus maternal and environmental cues including stress, immune stimulation, and nutrition, can alter the normal developmental programming of the fetus and neonate and impact the trajectory for disease risk and productivity across the lifespan. This presentation will focus on the impact of and biological mechanisms by which prenatal and early postnatal stressors, including psychological immune and nutritional stressors, alter the normal developmental programming of the immune, gastrointestinal, and neuroendocrine stress axes in the offspring and how this may link to increased disease risk and reduced productivity across the lifespan in animals and humans. Further, specifically how host factors such as biological sex interact with early life stress to shape gut and systemic neuroimmune development and later life disease risk will be discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minglan Li ◽  
Clare M. Reynolds ◽  
Stephanie A. Segovia ◽  
Clint Gray ◽  
Mark H. Vickers

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is fast becoming the most common liver disease globally and parallels rising obesity rates. The developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis have linked alterations in the early life environment to an increased risk of metabolic disorders in later life. Altered early life nutrition, in addition to increasing risk for the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in offspring, is now associated with an increased risk for the development of NAFLD. This review summarizes emerging research on the developmental programming of NAFLD by both maternal obesity and undernutrition with a particular focus on the possible mechanisms underlying the development of hepatic dysfunction and potential strategies for intervention.


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