Maternal Stress Potentiates the Effect of an Inflammatory Diet in Pregnancy on Maternal Concentrations of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha

Abstract

Maternal inflammation during pregnancy is known to adversely impact fetal development, birth outcomes, and offspring physical and mental health. Diet and stress have been identified as important determinants of inflammation, yet their combined effects have not been examined in the context of pregnancy. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between maternal diet with inflammatory potential and psychological stress, and to determine their interaction effect on concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α across pregnancy. We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of n = 202 women with three assessments during pregnancy, which included: ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of maternal stress using the perceived stress scale (PSS) short version; 24-h dietary recalls from which the dietary inflammatory index (DII) was computed; and serum measurements of TNF-α. Across pregnancy, higher perceived stress was associated with consumption of a more pro-inflammatory diet (r = 0.137; p < 0.05). In a linear regression model adjusted for covariates, DII was positively associated with TNF-α (B = 0.093, p = 0.010). The effect of the pro-inflammatory diet on concentrations of TNF-α was more pronounced in women reporting higher levels of stress (B = 0.134, p = 0.018 for DII*PSS interaction). These results highlight the need to consider nutrition and stress concurrently in the context of inflammation during pregnancy.

Maternal Serum Cytokine Concentrations in Healthy Pregnancy and Preeclampsia

“…Another study found that mean TNF- α concentrations significantly increased between the first, second, and third trimesters of healthy pregnancy (108.00 pg/mL, 153.01 pg/mL, and 172.89 pg/mL, respectively) [ 35 ]. Others have also observed significantly higher TNF- α concentrations in the third trimester compared to early pregnancy [ 52 , 53 ]. Significant increases in maternal serum TNF- α concentrations are also reported between the first and second [ 54 , 55 ] and the second and third trimesters [ 56 ].…”

Identifying a biological signature of prenatal maternal stress

“…Previously, equivocal results dependent upon the stress stimulus under investigation have been reported in regard to the effects of psychological distress on serum TNF-α levels (36). More recently, prenatal stress has been noted to potentiate the effects of a pro-inflammatory diet on maternal TNF-α concentrations (37).An additional, somewhat paradoxical discovery from the present study was that plasma levels of the pro-inflammatory chemokine IL-8 were found to be attenuated in participants reporting the highest levels of perceived social stress and depression. Interestingly, this finding concurs with recently reported observations invitro where cortisol exposure was shown to decrease levels of IL-8 secretion from female peripheral blood mononuclear cells (38).…”

From Maternal Diet to Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Story of Neuroinflammation

“…Moreover, mHFD can also lead to behavioral changes in the mothers inducing increased anxiety-like behaviors ( Thompson et al, 2018 ), which can negatively impact offspring’s maternal care ( Reck et al, 2018 ) (further detailed in Table 2 ). Prospective longitudinal study on pregnant women revealed that under stressful-perceived situations, women tend to consume more proinflammatory diet, such as a diet high in fats ( Lindsay et al, 2018 ). Considering that more than three quarters of pregnant women experience low to moderate mood during gestation ( Woods et al, 2010 ), high fat consumption during pregnancy may be more prevalent than we conceive.…”