Vitamin B12 and folate concentrations during pregnancy and insulin resistance in the offspring: the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study
By C. Yajnik, S. Deshpande, A. Jackson, H. Refsum, S. Rao, D. J. Fisher, D. Bhat, S. Naik, K. Coyaji, C. Joglekar and 5 more. Diabetologia, 2007
768 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Aims/hypothesisRaised maternal plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations predict small size at birth, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus. We studied the association between maternal vitamin B12, folate and tHcy status during pregnancy, and offspring adiposity and insulin resistance at 6 years.MethodsIn the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study we studied 700 consecutive eligible pregnant women in six villages. We measured maternal nutritional intake and circulating concentrations of folate, vitamin B12, tHcy and methylmalonic acid (MMA) at 18 and 28 weeks of gestation. These were correlated with offspring anthropometry, body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan) and insulin resistance (homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA-R]) at 6 years.ResultsTwo-thirds of mothers had low vitamin B12 (<150 pmol/l), 90% had high MMA (>0.26 μmol/l) and 30% had raised tHcy concentrations (>10 μmol/l); only one had a low erythrocyte folate concentration. Although short and thin (BMI), the 6-year-old children were relatively adipose compared with the UK standards (skinfold thicknesses). Higher maternal erythrocyte folate concentrations at 28 weeks predicted higher offspring adiposity and higher HOMA-R (both p < 0.01). Low maternal vitamin B12 (18 weeks; p = 0.03) predicted higher HOMA-R in the children. The offspring of mothers with a combination of high folate and low vitamin B12 concentrations were the most insulin resistant.Conclusions/interpretationLow maternal vitamin B12 and high folate status may contribute to the epidemic of adiposity and type 2 diabetes in India.
Subfields: Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Rheumatology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a59c4a10584018a1399f61072f3644284a3531b5
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In Obstetrics and Gynecology
In Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
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Citations in the corpus
- Ten Putative Contributors to the Obesity Epidemic (2009, positive): “, 2006) or micronutrient (Yajnik et al., 2008) status during pregnancy, underlines the importance of a balanced maternal diet before and during pregnancy.”
- Obesity and the metabolic syndrome in developing countries. (2008, background): “Furthermore, the role of micronutrient deficiency(ies) during the perinatal period in development of chronic diseases later in life, although suggested, remains to be conclusively defined (153).”
- Is folic acid good for everyone? (2008, background): “The Pune Maternal Nutrition Study from India has shown a possible adverse effect of high maternal folate status (65).”