Dietary nutrients during gestation cause obesity and related metabolic changes by altering DNA methylation in the offspring

Szilvia Bokor; Ildikó Csölle; Regina Felső; Réka A Vass; Simone Funke; Tibor Ertl; Dénes Molnár

doi:10.3389/fendo.2024.1287255

Dietary nutrients during gestation cause obesity and related metabolic changes by altering DNA methylation in the offspring

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Feb 20:15:1287255. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1287255. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Szilvia Bokor^{1

2}, Ildikó Csölle^{1

2

3}, Regina Felső^{1

2}, Réka A Vass^{2

4

5}, Simone Funke^{2

4}, Tibor Ertl^{2

4}, Dénes Molnár^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Paediatrics, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
² National Laboratory on Human Reproduction, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
³ Doctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
⁵ Obstetrics and Gynecology, Magyar Imre Hospital Ajka, Ajka, Hungary.

Abstract

Growing evidence shows that maternal nutrition from preconception until lactation has an important effect on the development of non-communicable diseases in the offspring. Biological responses to environmental stress during pregnancy, including undernutrition or overnutrition of various nutrients, are transmitted in part by DNA methylation. The aim of the present narrative review is to summarize literature data on altered DNA methylation patterns caused by maternal macronutrient or vitamin intake and its association with offspring's phenotype (obesity and related metabolic changes). With our literature search, we found evidence for the association between alterations in DNA methylation pattern of different genes caused by maternal under- or overnutrition of several nutrients (protein, fructose, fat, vitamin D, methyl-group donor nutrients) during 3 critical periods of programming (preconception, pregnancy, lactation) and the development of obesity or related metabolic changes (glucose, insulin, lipid, leptin, adiponectin levels, blood pressure, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) in offspring. The review highlights that maternal consumption of several nutrients could individually affect the development of offspring's obesity and related metabolic changes via alterations in DNA methylation.

Keywords: DNA methylation; epigenetic; maternal; metabolic syndrome; nutrition; obesity.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

DNA Methylation*
Diet
Female
Humans
Nutrients
Nutritional Status
Obesity* / genetics
Pregnancy

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Project no. RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00012, titled National Laboratory on Human Reproduction has been implemented with the support provided by the Recovery and Resilience Facility of the European Union within the framework of Program Széchenyi Plan Plus. Project no. TKP2021-EGA-10” has been implemented with the support provided from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary, financed under the TKP2021-EGA” funding scheme.