Associations of maternal diet and nutritional status with offspring hepatic steatosis in the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Ahlia Sekkarie, Emory University; Jean Welsh, Emory University; Kate Northstone, Bristol Medical School; Aryeh Stein, Emory University; Usha Ramakrishnan, Emory University; Miriam Vos, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-07-08
• Publisher: BMC
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2021
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40795-021-00433-3
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: BMC Nutrition
• Volume: 7
• Grant/Funding Information: Support for procurement of the data was provided by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, GA, USA. The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. The corresponding author has full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.; The UK Medical Research Council and Wellcome (Grant ref.: 217065/Z/19/Z) and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. This publication is the work of the authors, who serve as guarantors for the contents of this paper. A comprehensive list of grants funding is available on the ALSPAC website (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/external/documents/grant-acknowledgements.pdf); This research was specifically funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) (MR/L022206/1, G0801456).
• Keywords: Diabetes; NAFLD; Longitudinal; Pregnancy; Obesity; ALSPAC
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Nutrition; Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Abstract

Background Priming for cardiometabolic diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is hypothesized to begin in utero. The primary objective of this study is to determine whether there is an association between maternal nutritional status and offspring NAFLD. Methods Data come from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) in the UK. The analytic sample included 3353 participants who had maternal information on pre-pregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain, diabetes, and free sugar intake as percent of total energy and were assessed for mild-severe hepatic steatosis at 24 years by transient elastography (controlled attenuation parameter score ≥ 248 dB/m). Multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between maternal factors and offspring hepatic steatosis at 24 years. Results In confounder-adjusted models the independent associations for each maternal factor with mild to severe vs low hepatic steatosis at 24 years were: pre-pregnancy overweight (OR: 1.84, 95%CL: 1.43–2.38) or obesity (OR: 2.73, 95%CL: 1.84–4.03), more than recommended gestational weight gain (OR: 1.30, 95%CL: 1.04–1.64), diabetes (OR: 1.39, 95%CI: 0.87, 2.21), and high free sugar intake during pregnancy (OR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.33). These associations were largely mediated by BMI at 24 years, but not by birthweight or breastfeeding. Conclusions Our results suggest that maternal nutritional status is associated with the development of NAFLD in their adult offspring, although the relationship is largely mediated by offspring BMI in adulthood.