Equipo del área de Obesidad y Nutrición del Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBEROBN), con el profesor Andreu Palou, su responsable, en primera fila - Foto: A.Costa/UIB
According to a study by the Obesity and Nutrition team of the Center for Biomedical Research in Network (CIBEROBN) and scientists from UIB published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, a healthy diet during lactation inhibits metabolic changes in offspring.
These results highlight that recovery of a healthy maternal diet during lactation may at least partially prevent metabolic disorders in offspring caused by poor diet and obesity during the prenatal stages.
The study was carried out by UIB’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology (Nutrigenomics, Biomarkers and Risk Assessment Group, NUBE) and the Institute for Health Research of the Balearic Islands (IDISBA) in collaboration with the Institute of Physiology. of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
On an animal model, it has been shown that normalizing maternal diet during lactation prevents harmful effects of an obesogenic diet on lipidome or lipidomic profile (set of hundreds of lipids) in breast milk and plasma before and during pregnancy. Does matter. Of the child
These new insights suggest that restoring a healthy maternal diet during lactation may, at least in part, prevent metabolic disorders caused by poor diet and obesity during the prenatal stages.
Previous intervention studies in animal models had shown that consumption of an obesogenic diet during the perinatal period affects mammary gland function and, therefore, milk composition, meaning that these changes may be “programmed in the offspring”. ,
This programming leads to a greater tendency to develop chronic pathology in adulthood. Researchers studied intervention strategies during the breastfeeding period to prevent adverse effects caused by an unbalanced maternal diet during or even before pregnancy.
To do this, they analyzed the lipidomic profile to determine changes in this profile that could potentially be associated with an increased risk of developing diseases in later stages of life, as well as the plasma levels of offspring in the late stages. May also analyze lipid profile. life. Lactation.
The results of this study showed that maternal consumption of an obesogenic diet during the perinatal period (specifically, one month before pregnancy and during pregnancy and lactation) caused a significant change in the lipid composition of milk and plasma of their babies. causes. preliminary stage.
These changes were largely reversed in the milk of mothers who were fed a standard (balanced) diet during lactation, and in the plasma of their offspring. The reversal of these changes has been linked, at least in part, to the recovery of hormone expression levels.
This is the hormone adiponectin in the mammary gland. These changes are also related to decreased expression of various proinflammatory factors. Study authors, led by Dr Catalina Pico, are now studying how to apply these results to humans.
In any case, they recommend extreme care in feeding during lactation, as a critical period in which it is possible to correct metabolic changes in offspring that may have been poorly programmed by feeding or unhealthy lifestyle from the previous period. may have gone.
The CIBER Consortium (Biomedical Research Center Network, MP) relies on the Carlos III Institute of Health—Ministry of Science and Innovation—and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Pathophysiology of Obesity and Nutrition Sector (CIBEROBN) is composed of 33 national groups.
These working groups of proven scientific excellence focus their research work on the study of obesity, nutrition and physical exercise to generate useful knowledge for clinical practice, the food industry and society as a whole.
The groups also work on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, the prevention of metabolic disorders, childhood and adolescent obesity, and the relationship between obesity and cancer. One of these groups is the one that developed this latest research work at the University of the Balearic Islands.
bibliography reference
Pedro Castillo, Ondrej Cuda, Jan Kopecki, Catalina Amadora Pomer, Andres Palu, Mariana Palu, Catalina Pico. “Returning to a zdravá diet during lactation normalizes maternal milk lipid content in diet-induced obese rats and prevents changes in the plasma lipidome of the offspring”. Molecular nutrition and food research. DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.202200204
Readings:
55