Evaluation of Maternal Dietary n-3 LCPUFA Supplementation as a Primary Strategy to Reduce Offspring Obesity: Lessons From the INFAT Trial and Implications for Future Research.

Bernhard Lorenz Bader,Hans Hauner,Christina Brei,Dorothy Marie Meyer

doi:10.3389/fnut.2020.00156

Abstract

Preclinical research suggests that early exposure to LCPUFAs is associated with offspring health outcomes, although evidence in humans is rather unclear. In 2006, we established the Impact of Nutritional Fatty acids during pregnancy and lactation on early human Adipose Tissue development (INFAT) study, a prospective randomized controlled intervention trial that examined whether decreasing the n-6/n-3 LCPUFA ratio during pregnancy and lactation influences offspring adipose tissue development in children up to 5 years. Our results indicate that maternal supplementation with n-3 LCPUFAs does not reduce offspring obesity risk, which is in line with recent publications. This perspective describes the challenges and lessons learned from our clinical trial. We discuss key findings and critically evaluate differences in study design, methodology, and analyses across similar intervention trials that may partly explain heterogeneous results. Summarizing evidence from human trials, we conclude that n-3 LCPUFA supplementation should not be recommended as a primordial strategy to prevent childhood obesity. Instead, it remains unknown whether n-3 LCPUFA supplementation could benefit high-risk subgroups and some vulnerable maternal/child populations. The perspectives offered herein are derived largely from insights gained from ours and similar n-3 LCPUFA intervention trials and help to provide direction for future research that examines the impact of maternal nutritional exposure on offspring health and disease outcomes.

Highlights

It is well-established that perinatal exposure to environmental conditions can influence longterm health. This concept, known as fetal programming, has its origins in epidemiological studies performed by Dr David Barker [1] and was further developed into the framework known as the “Developmental Origins of Health and Disease” (DOHaD) [2]
We found no evidence that supports maternal n-3 LCPUFA supplementation to improve offspring cognitive outcomes [24] (Table 1)
Over 95% of American childbearing-aged women do not meet the current recommendation of 250 mg n-3 LCPUFAs per day [63], with similar findings reported in Europe [64]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

It is well-established that perinatal exposure to environmental conditions can influence longterm health. This is an important observation to consider in planning future longitudinal studies, as around 5 years is known as the age of adiposity rebound and is thought to be a critical age that can predict later obesity [33].

Key findings

Main outcome measures Study type

CONCLUSION

Findings

ETHICS STATEMENT