In a recent study published, researchers investigate the association between the quality of the maternal diet during pregnancy and hepatic fat in the offspring during early childhood.
Introduction
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the pediatric population is a growing concern, as it is associated with insulin resistance, childhood obesity, and various other metabolic disorders. During childhood, NAFLD can also lead to liver fibrosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Previous studies have shown that exposure to obesogenic factors, such as suboptimal levels of lipids or glucose, as well as maternal obesity in utero during the developmental stages of the fetus, can increase the risk of hepatic fat in the offspring.
The activity levels of the mother and maternal diet could also influence the risk of NAFLD in the offspring. Research on animal models has shown that high-fat and high-sucrose-based diets are associated with liver fat in the offspring. Therefore, it is important to understand whether and how maternal diet quality influences the risk of NAFLD in offspring.
Results
Higher rMED scores, which indicated a relatively high Mediterranean Diet type with high fiber intake in the maternal diet during pregnancy, were associated with lower hepatic fat in the offspring during early childhood. Furthermore, a material diet with high DII scores, combined with increased sugar intake in the maternal diet and high levels of total sugar by the mother, was linked to higher hepatic fat in the offspring.
A sub-component analysis also revealed that the reduced intake of legumes and green vegetables in the diet by the mother and a higher intake of empty calories such as added sugar also increased the risk of hepatic fat accumulation in the offspring during early childhood.
These findings were consistent, even when the analyses were adjusted for factors such as total energy intake and body mass index (BMI) during pregnancy. Thus, the correlation between maternal diet and hepatic fat accumulation in the offspring was independent of the energy balance in the mother.
Increased intake of healthy dietary fibers and carbohydrates with a low glycemic index was linked to better weight control during pregnancy and enhanced metabolic homeostasis in the mother, which could reduce the susceptibility of the offspring to NAFLD. However, the study found that the levels of maternal triglycerides, previously linked to hepatic fat in the offspring, did not influence the associations between maternal diet and NAFLD risk in the offspring.
Conclusion
Overall, the current study reports that a maternal diet of poor quality that includes lower levels of healthy fiber and high sugar consumption increased the susceptibility of the offspring to NAFLD. Furthermore, pro-inflammatory maternal diets, as determined by high DII scores and dissimilar to the Mediterranean diet, were associated with hepatic fat accumulation in the offspring during early childhood.
These findings provide a target in the perinatal stage for preventing NAFLD in the pediatric population.
Source:
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230216/Poor-maternal-diet-during-pregnancy-increases-risk-of-early-childhood-fatty-liver-in-offspring.aspx