Parental exposure to famine in early life and child overweight in offspring in Chinese populations

Wei-Yuan Yao; Yong-Fu Yu; Leah Li; Wang-Hong Xu

doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2023.02.013

Parental exposure to famine in early life and child overweight in offspring in Chinese populations

Clin Nutr. 2023 Apr;42(4):458-466. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2023.02.013. Epub 2023 Feb 21.

Authors

Wei-Yuan Yao¹, Yong-Fu Yu², Leah Li³, Wang-Hong Xu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education (Fudan University), 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China; Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Building V of Zhongfu Square, Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, 322000, China.
² Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and the Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China.
³ Population, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department, University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: leah.li@ucl.ac.uk.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education (Fudan University), 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China; Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Building V of Zhongfu Square, Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, 322000, China. Electronic address: wanghong.xu@fudan.edu.cn.

PMID: 36857955
DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2023.02.013

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the transgenerational effect of nutrition deficiency in early life. This study aimed to evaluate the associations of fetal and childhood exposure to famine of parents with their offspring's risk of overweight during childhood.

Methods: This analysis included a total of 3734 participants of the China Health and Nutrition Survey aged 1-17 years whose fathers and/or mothers were born in 1955-1966. These children were classified into subgroups according to parental famine exposure status (unexposed and exposed) and timing (fetal-exposed and childhood-exposed). Random effects models were applied to evaluate the associations of parental famine exposure with body mass index (BMI) and overweight of offspring. Fractional polynomial functions were adopted to describe trajectories of BMI against age.

Results: Compared with children of unexposed parents, there was a lower risk of overweight among offspring of childhood-exposed fathers [OR (95%CI): 0.80 (0.61, 1.04)] or exposed parents [0.84 (0.68, 1.04)], particularly among male offspring, but not among those with exposed mothers only [0.98 (0.65, 1.47)]. For BMI, children with exposed mothers only had a slightly higher BMI [β(95%CI): 0.17 (-0.15, 0.49)], while those with exposed fathers only had no difference [-0.02 (-0.23, 0.19)] or exposed parents had a slightly lower BMI [-0.17 (-0.33, 0.00)] (p < 0.05 for interaction between maternal and paternal exposures). Stratified analysis showed little heterogeneity between male and female offspring, but the association between paternal childhood exposure to famine and lower overweight risk in offspring was more evident in high (vs low) paternal education group (p for interaction< 0.05).

Conclusions: The transgenerational associations of early-life exposure to famine with lower risks of child overweight may be via the paternal line and differ by the educational levels of parents. Further studies are warranted to confirm the results and reveal the biological mechanisms underlying.

Keywords: Body mass index; Childhood; DOHaD; Famine exposure; Overweight; Trans-generation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Body Mass Index
Child
China / epidemiology
East Asian People
Famine*
Female
Humans
Male
Mothers
Overweight* / epidemiology
Parents
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects* / epidemiology
Risk Factors
Starvation* / epidemiology