AI Summary
This research explores how maternal obesity may reprogram babies, increasing the risk of metabolic problems like obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and liver disease early in life. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma received a $2.3 million grant from the NIH to study this process and investigate whether giving the mother an antioxidant called PQQ could reduce the risk of future metabolic issues in offspring. The study aims to understand the role of the placenta, the interface between mother and fetus, in this reprogramming process. This research is significant due to the high prevalence of maternal obesity and its impact on the long-term health of offspring.
Research increasingly suggests that when a woman with obesity becomes pregnant, a process of “fetal reprogramming” increases the risk that her baby will face problems like obesity, Type 2 diabetes and liver disease earlier in life.
To better understand how that reprogramming occurs, University of Oklahoma researchers recently earned a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. They also will study whether an antioxidant called PQQ given to the mother can lower the risk of future metabolic problems for her offspring.
“Today in the United States, more than 40% of women of childbearing age are overweight or obese,” said OU College of Medicine researcher Karen Jonscher, Ph.D., who is leading the work of the grant with Dean Myers, Ph.D. “Research has shown that people whose mothers were obese during pregnancy have a higher risk for developing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, a fatty liver disease that becomes progressively worse and can result in the need for a transplant. However, in offspring, it happens earlier in life and with more severe problems. The whole process seems to be accelerated in children who are born to mothers with obesity.”
Much of America’s obesity problem is attributed to eating a “Western-style” diet that is heavy on fats. However, even if a woman with obesity eats healthier during pregnancy, her offspring still face a higher risk of disease. Jonscher and Myers believe the key may be what is happening in the placenta -; the interface between mother and fetus.
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