New Research Suggests That Maternal Obesity May Lead To Adverse Metabolic Health Outcomes During Childhood

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of the Basque Country in Spain sought to understand how a pregnant mother’s Body Mass Index (BMI) during the beginning of pregnancy impacts the molecular profiles of the placenta.
“And more specifically, placental DNA methylation– or the addition of a group compromising one carbon and three hydrogens in a specific position in the DNA molecule,” explained Nora Fernández-Jiménez, a Faculty of Medicine and Nursing lecturer.
To date, this was the largest study focusing on placental DNA methylation. It included 2,631 mother and child pairs from North America, Europe, and Australia.
Unlike more familiar mutations– which involve the substitution of one nucleotide in the DNA sequence for another– methylation is a DNA modification that regulates gene expression without actually altering the DNA sequence.
Recent research has found that methylation bridges the gap between the fetal genome and the intrauterine environment. In other words, the rate of methylation in a genome region may increase due to the environment.
But this kind of increase usually causes DNA to become more compact– meaning that these regions cannot be accessed for transcription. This ultimately leads to some genes being silenced.
On the flip side, the opposite effect could also occur. For instance, the rate of methylation in a genome region could decrease in response to the environment.
“In this case, the DNA obtains an open configuration to which the transcription machinery has better accessibility, and gene expression would be increased as a result,” said Fernández-Jiménez.
“In both cases, the sequence remains intact, but the genome behaves in one way or another.”

pololia – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person or baby
So, in this study, she and her team identified 27 different sites where variations in DNA methylation were observed and seemed specific to the placenta– an organ that is critical for fetal growth and development.
Interestingly, many of the sites were located near genes related to obesity and are also “enriched” in metabolic pathways for oxidative stress and cancer.
“That doesn’t mean that babies born to mothers with obesity problems will go on to develop cancer,” Fernández-Jiménez noted.
But, the placenta does behave like a tumor since it grows very quickly– pushing the researchers to believe that there is an impact on placental functioning and fetal growth.
In turn, the team suggested that placental DNA methylation might be one mechanism by which maternal obesity is linked to adverse metabolic health outcomes during childhood.
Still, Fernández-Jiménez did stress that additional studies are needed to confirm these findings and added that “mother blaming” should not be the go-to response to the study’s results.
“However legitimate our research may be, it should not be used to justify the mantra of mother-blaming, as it is very difficult to quantify the influence of mothers and their characteristics and behaviors versus other factors– such as mothers’ parents or partners, families, society itself and the environment– surrounding the fetus and the newborn because they have never been so thoroughly researched,” she said.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Communications Biology, visit the link here.
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