Impact of maternal dietary counseling in the first year of life on DNA methylation in a cohort of children

Castilhos, Janaína Kehl de; Campagnolo, Paula Dal Bó; Almeida, Silvana de; Vitolo, Márcia Regina; Mattevi, Vanessa Suñé

doi:10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2020-0330

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Genetics and Molecular Biology

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Human and Medical Genetics • Genet. Mol. Biol. 44 (4) • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2020-0330 copy

Impact of maternal dietary counseling in the first year of life on DNA methylation in a cohort of children

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Epigenetic modifications established during prenatal and early life, including DNA methylation, have been suggested as potential mediators of the interaction between environmental exposures during the perinatal period and adult metabolic health adverse outcomes, especially cardiometabolic complications and overweight. The effect of a dietary intervention in the first year of life on global methylation levels in leukocyte samples from a cohort of children born between 2001 and 2002 in southern Brazil was examined. Overall methylation measurements were performed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays on DNA samples from 237 children at 4 years old. Mean methylation values were higher in the intervention group (mean: 2.20 ± 1.31%) than in the control group (mean: 1.65 ± 1.11%; P = 0.001). It was observed that nutritional counseling in the first year increased breastfeeding duration and stimulated the development of healthier eating habits. Therefore, these factors might have contributed to increase global DNA methylation. The findings of the present study reinforce the notion that performing nutritional interventions in the early stages of life is important and provide further evidence of the interaction between the environment and epigenetic traits.

Keywords:
Epigenetics; DNA methylation; dietary intervention; metabolic diseases

		Intervention		Control		P-values^a
		n	%	n	%	P-values^a
Sex	Boys	54	58.7	78	53.8	0.459
Sex	Girls	38	41.3	67	46.2	0.459
Total breastfeeding duration	<12 months	45	49.5	83	58.0	0.198
Total breastfeeding duration	≥12 months	46	50.5	60	42.0	0.198
Exclusive breastfeeding duration	<4 months	53	58.2	106	74.1	0.011
Exclusive breastfeeding duration	≥4 months	38	41.8	37	25.9	0.011
Gestational weight gain	Low	33	40.2	40	30.1	0.214
	Adequate	27	32.9	44	33.1
	Excessive	22	26.8	49	36.8
Maternal smoking during gestation	Yes	8	9.3	23	16.8	0.116
Maternal smoking during gestation	No	78	90.7	114	83.2	0.116

		Intervention		Control		P-values
		n	Mean (±SD) or %	n	Mean (±SD) or %	P-values
Age (years)		89	3.97 (0.22)	143	3.97 (0.21)	0.783^a
Weight status	Normal	68	80.0	116	85.9	0.320^b
	Overweight	12	14.1	16	11.9
	Obese	5	5.9	3	2.2
High cholesterol (≥ 170 mg/dl)		4	4.9	11	8.0	0.581^b
Low HDL cholesterol (≤ 35 mg/dl)		13	15.9	29	21.0	0.445^c
High Triglycerides (≥ 100 mg/dl)		5	6.1	4	2.9	0.248^b
HEI	Poor	4	4.7	20	14.3	0.036^c
	Needs improvement	69	81.2	109	77.9
	Good	12	14.1	11	7.9

		n	Mean (% dmC)	SD (% dmC)	P-values^a
Pre-gestational weight	Eutrophic	143	1.87	1.28	0.742
	Overweight	56	1.84	1.05
	Obese	21	1.88	1.15
Gestational smoking	Yes	31	1.86	1.26	0.686
Gestational smoking	No	192	1.88	1.22	0.686
Gestational weight gain	< 9.0 kg	69	2.11	1.30	0.191
	9.1 - 15.9 kg	92	1.80	1.18
	>16.0 kg	63	1.66	1.28
Sex of the child	Boys	132	1.89	1.23	0.416
Sex of the child	Girls	105	1.83	1.21	0.416
Type of delivery	Normal	123	1.79	1.23	0.148
Type of delivery	Caesarean	85	1.94	1.16	0.148
High lipid density foods consumption (at 1 year)	Yes	107	1.73	1.19	0.065
High lipid density foods consumption (at 1 year)	No	127	1.95	1.20	0.065
High sugar density foods consumption (at 1 year)	Yes	62	2.02	1.38	0.628
High sugar density foods consumption (at 1 year)	No	172	1.78	1.12	0.628
Smoker mother (at 4 years)	Yes	49	1.92	1.31	0.976
Smoker mother (at 4 years)	No	173	1.83	1.18	0.976
Other smoker in the household (at 4 years)	Yes	81	1.71	1.17	0.109
Other smoker in the household (at 4 years)	No	150	1.93	1.21	0.109

Univariate models
	B	95% CI	r	P
Pre-gestational BMI	0.013	-0.006, 0.033	0.089	0.188
Exclusive breastfeeding duration	0.027	-0.015, 0.069	0.083	0.208
Total breastfeeding duration	0.002	-0.007, 0.011	0.049	0.613
Folate ingestion amount (at 1 year)	-0.034	-0.002, 0.001	0.034	0.617
B12 vitamin ingestion amount (at 1 year)	0.002	-0.010, 0.013	0.018	0.793
HEI at 4 years of life	-0.001	-0.009, 0.008	0.012	0.855
Intervention	0.305	0.119, 0.491	0.206	0.001
Multivariate models
	B	95% CI	P	r	P ^a
Model I
Exclusive breastfeeding duration	0.014	-0.029, 0.057	0.530	0.188	0.090
Age (years)	-0.114	-0.548, 0.314	0.605
Gender (boys)	0.015	-0.170, 0.199	0.876
Intervention	0.244	0.053, 0.436	0.013
Model II
Age (years)	-0.144	-0.569, 0.280	0.504	0.195	0.031
Gender (boys)	0.022	-0.162, 0.207	0.811
Intervention	0.273	0.087, 0.460	0.004

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[1] Send correspondence to Vanessa Suñé Mattevi. Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Rua Sarmento Leite, 245, prédio 1, sala 309, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. E-mail: vmattevi@ufcspa.edu.br