Intergenerational associations of dietary inflammatory index with birth outcomes and weight status at age 5 and 9: Results from the Lifeways cross‐generation cohort study

Abstract

Summary Background Maternal diet and chronic inflammation may influence early‐life offspring health. No comparative data regarding intergenerational associations between dietary inflammation and offspring growth exist. Objective To investigate potential associations between parental and grandparental dietary inflammatory index (DII®) scores with offspring birth outcomes and childhood adiposity. Methods This analysis of the Lifeways Study includes 1082 mother‐child pairs, 333 index‐child's fathers and 707 grandparents. Energy‐adjusted DII (E‐DII) scores were derived from a validated FFQ for all adults. Birth outcomes were abstracted from hospital records. Childhood BMI was determined at age 5 and 9. Logistic regression and mediation analyses using the PROCESS macro for SPSS were performed. Results Higher maternal E‐DII scores, reflecting a more pro‐inflammatory diet, were associated with increased risk of low birthweight (LBW), BW < 2500 g (OR:1.20, 95%CI:1.02–1.47, p = 0.03). Higher maternal grandmothers' (MGM) E‐DII scores were associated with increased risk of macrosomia (OR:1.35, 95% CI:1.02–1.79, p = 0.03) and with increased risk of an overweight grandchild at age 9 (OR:1.47, 95% CI:1.26–1.72, p = 0.02). Results from the mediation analyses revealed a significant total effect between MGMs' E‐DII scores and grandchild's BW. Higher father's and paternal grandmothers' (PGM) E‐DII scores were associated with greater risk of childhood overweight/obesity at 5 years (OR:1.03, 95%CI:1.01–1.19, p = 0.04 and OR:1.07, 95%CI:1.05–1.09, p = 0.01, respectively). The association with the PGMs' E‐DII persisted at age 9 (OR:1.13, 95%CI:1.01–1.90, p = 0.04). Conclusions Dietary inflammation is associated with adverse offspring birth outcomes and childhood adiposity. A more pro‐inflammatory maternal line diet appears to influence early‐life growth, whereas paternal line dietary inflammation appears to influence childhood obesity.

Effect of an Antenatal Lifestyle Intervention on Dietary Inflammatory Index and Its Associations with Maternal and Fetal Outcomes: A Secondary Analysis of the PEARS Trial

“…In a variety of pregnancy cohorts, the DII ® or E-DII TM has been associated with outcomes such as maternal inflammation, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), preterm birth, birthweight, and neonatal adiposity, particularly in women with overweight and obesity [ 8 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Furthermore, maternal DII ® associations with offspring childhood respiratory issues, emotional and behaviour symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) trajectories from birth to adolescence have been reported [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Evidence suggests higher BMI is associated with DII ® in adults and children [ 1 , 21 ].…”

Maternal Dietary Quality and Dietary Inflammation Associations with Offspring Growth, Placental Development, and DNA Methylation

“…Most of the research to date regarding early life nutritional programming has focused on the mother but emerging evidence suggests that paternal nutritional status may also have an effect on child development, independently of maternal diet [ 24 , 104 ]. In a study conducted in Ireland, higher paternal E-DII scores, indicating a more pro-inflammatory diet, were associated with increased risk of childhood OWOB at 5 years [ 24 ], whereas higher paternal HEI scores, indicating higher dietary quality, were associated with reduced risk of childhood obesity [ 104 ]. Other studies reported that higher paternal BMI at conception was associated with increased offspring BMI [ 187 ].…”

“…Overall dietary quality may be more translatable to public health guidelines. Therefore, a variety of dietary scores and indices have been developed for nutritional epidemiology to assess dietary risk factors for non-communicable diseases [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. These algorithms aim to evaluate the overall diet and categorise individuals according to the extent to which an individual’s eating behaviour is “healthy” based on primary nutritional data collected from 24-h quantitative dietary intake recalls, dietary records and food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) [ 28 ].…”

“…The Healthy Start Study ( n = 1078 mother–neonate pairs) reported that higher DII scores in obese mothers during pregnancy were associated with increased neonatal adiposity [ 86 ], while the NEST study ( n = 1057 mother–child pairs) did not report associations with birth anthropometry but an increased risk of prematurity among female offspring was observed [ 14 ]. Conversely, in the Lifeways study, higher maternal E-DII scores in early pregnancy were associated with increased risk of low birthweight [ 24 ]. Additionally, results from the Project VIVA showed that higher DII scores were associated with lower birth weight for gestational age z score in infants born to obese mothers [ 15 ].…”

“…In two cohorts with available data, a higher whole-pregnancy E-DII score was associated with a lower fat-free mass index in both mid-childhood and late-childhood [ 123 ]. In the Irish Lifeways cohort, there were no associations found between maternal dietary inflammation during pregnancy and childhood adiposity, whereas paternal line dietary inflammation appears to influence childhood obesity at both 5 and 9 years [ 24 ].…”