AUTHOR=Yu Hai-Tao , Xu Wen-Hui , Chen Yi-Ru , Ji Ye , Tang Yi-Wei , Li Yue-Ting , Gong Jia-Yu , Chen Yi-Fei , Liu Guo-Liang , Xie Lin 

TITLE=Association of Prepregnancy Obesity and Remodeled Maternal-Fetal Plasma Fatty Acid Profiles

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.897059

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.897059

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Fatty acids, especially polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), are found abundantly in the brain and are fundamental for a fetus's growth. The fatty acid profiles of mothers and fetuses may be affected by maternal prepregnancy body mass index (pre-BMI), thus affecting fetal growth and development.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A total of 103 mother-fetus pairs were divided into overweight/obese (OW, <italic>n</italic> = 26), normal weight (NW, <italic>n</italic> = 60), and underweight (UW, <italic>n</italic> = 17) groups according to pre-BMI. Fatty acid profiles in maternal and umbilical cord plasma were analyzed by gas chromatography.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The infant birth BMI <italic>z</italic>-score of the OW group was higher than that of the NW and UW groups (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). The OW mothers had significantly higher plasma n-6 PUFA and n-6/n-3, but lower docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and n-3 PUFA (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). In cord plasma, the proportions of DHA and n-3 PUFA were lower in the OW group (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05), whereas the n-6/n-3 ratio was higher in the OW group (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). The pre-BMI was negatively correlated with cord plasma DHA in all subjects (<italic>r</italic> = −0.303, <italic>p</italic> = 0.002), and the same negative correlation can be observed in the OW group (<italic>r</italic> = −0.561, <italic>p</italic> = 0.004), but not in the NW and UW groups (<italic>p</italic> &gt; 0.05). The pre-BMI was positively correlated with cord plasma n-6/n-3 in all subjects (<italic>r</italic> = 0.325, <italic>p</italic> = 0.001), and the same positive correlation can be found in the OW group (<italic>r</italic> = 0.558, <italic>p</italic> = 0.004), but not in NW and UW groups (<italic>p</italic> &gt; 0.05).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>Maternal pre-BMI was associated with the maternal-fetal plasma fatty acid profiles, whereas the adverse fatty acid profiles are more noticeable in the prepregnancy OW mothers.</p></sec>