The Maternal Nutritional Milieu and Neonatal Outcomes: Connecting the Dots

Effect of gestational Mediterranean diet intervention on newborn fat mass and cord blood leptin level

Background

Maternal nutritional status is an important determinant of intrauterine growth and neonatal size. No published surveys exist on maternal Mediterranean diet intakes and newborn adiposity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the individual maternal Mediterranean diet on the in-utero body fat formation and cord leptin level in newborns. Pregnant women with a pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) between 30 and 35 kg/m2 (n = 118) were assisted for individual dietary counseling based on the Mediterranean diet healthy eating. According to diet adherence, participants (paired mother and newborn) were divided into an intervention group (n = 57) and a control group (n = 61). We examined the association between diet modification and gestational weight gain, maternal, and cord leptin level together with newborn anthropometry (weight and fat mass %).

Results

Gestational weight gain, newborn birth weight, fat mass %, and cord leptin level lower in the intervention (12.22 ± 1.8 kg, 3.57 ± 0.35 kg, 9.27 ± 2.16 %, 11.78 ± 3.63 ng/ml, p = 000, respectively) than in control group (18.03 ± 3.25 kg, 4.02 ± 0.32 kg, 11.85 ± 2.30 %, 35.37 ± 11.14 ng/ml, respectively. Umbilical cord leptin levels strongly correlated with neonatal fat mass percent in both groups. However, maternal serum leptin did not correlate with the newborn parameters in the intervention group.

Conclusion

Maternal energy intake from healthy fat and diet intervention is probably associated with decreased fat mass and leptin levels in neonates.

Ontogeny and programming of the fetal temporal cortical endocannabinoid system by moderate maternal nutrient reduction in baboons (Papio spp.)

Poor nutrition during pregnancy is a worldwide public health problem. Maternal nutrient reduction (MNR) is associated with maternal and fetal stress and a sex-dependent decrease in nonhuman primate (NHP) cognitive performance. Early life stress potentiates epileptogenesis in a sex-specific manner, and temporal lobe (TL) epilepsy is associated with neurocognitive disorders. The endogenous cannabinoid system (ECS) demonstrates remarkable developmental changes and plays a key role in aging-related diseases (e.g., dementia). Baboons have been studied as a natural model of epilepsy and express all ECS system components. We therefore evaluated baboon fetal temporal cortex ECS ontogenic and MNR-dependent changes. At 120 days gestational age (dGA) (term 185 days), maternal, fetal, and placental morphometry were similar between control and MNR pregnancies. MNR maternal weight gain was decreased compared with controls at 165 dGA independent of fetal sex. In male fetuses, expression of ECS synthesizing and degrading enzymes was gestational age-dependent, with the exception of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). MNR had a sex-specific effect on the protein expression of CB1R during development: CB1R protein expression was decreased in fetal temporal cortex of male fetuses at 120 and 140 dGA. Our data reveal that the MNR has sex-specific effects on temporal cortical expression of the ECS in baboon offspring and shows vulnerability of ECS in male fetuses during gestation.