Featured Article:

Postprandial Triglycerides Predict Newborn Fat More Strongly than Glucose in Women with Obesity in Early Pregnancy

Linda A. Barbour, Sarah S. Farabi, Jacob E. Friedman, Nicole M. Hirsch,

Melanie S. Reece, Rachael E. Van Pelt, and Teri L. Hernandez

Obesity, June 2018

Dr. Lynn Barbour, and the Infant GOLD Team, recently published an article in the Journal of Obesity. This article was selected as Editor's Choice and uses data collected from mothers who participated in the Fetal Programming Study.

 The purpose of the Fetal Programming Study was to better understand how glucose and fats within the blood changed during pregnancy and how this affects infant growth. The main focus was how glucose and fats relate to the percent body fat of a newborn. This is important to look at because babies born with a higher amount of body fat may have an increased risk of developing obesity and pre-diabetes as children or adolescents.

 Higher newborn fat mass is thought to be caused by over-nutrition. To catch potential over-nutrition to the baby,  pregnant women take a glucose tolerance test to assess if they have high blood sugars. If there is to much sugar (glucose) within the blood, the baby is exposed to over-nutrition. Those who are diagnosed with gestational diabetes (high blood sugars in pregnancy) rigorously monitor their blood sugars to ensure the baby is not exposed to too much nutrition. Up to 20% of pregnancies are complicated by gestational diabetes.

 Main Results of the Study:

• The amount of triglycerides in your blood goes up as pregnancy progresses

  • Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in your body. They are created using the fat in your diet and any extra calories that your body doesn't need (like those from carbohydrates). Learn more about triglycerides here

• Mothers with a higher body weight for height had higher amounts of triglycerides in their blood before and after eating than mothers who had a healthy weight for height

• For the higher body weight mothers, the strongest predictor of newborn fat mass was the amount of triglycerides in the blood after a meal early in their pregnancy

• For the healthy body weight mothers, the strongest predictor of newborn fat mass was how much their triglycerides increased from early in pregnancy to late in pregnancy.

• The mother's blood sugar (glucose) levels did not significantly contribute to newborn fat mass

 What could these results mean?

Post-meal triglyceride levels could be an important contributor to infant growth. This would mean potentially having mothers monitor their triglycerides, similar to how they monitor their glucose levels. More research is needed to determine if monitoring and lowering post-meal triglycerides improves newborn fat mass.

 Overall, this research supports that a healthy, balanced diet is important in early and late pregnancy. For more information on health eating in pregnancy please visit usda.gov  

What to know more? Click the article’s title to link to the original publication

More publications from the Infant GOLD Research Team:

Human milk imparts higher insulin concentration in infants born to women with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Rachel L Rodel, Sarah S Farabi, Nicole M Hirsch, Kristy P Rolloff, Bryan McNair, Teri L Hernandez, Nancy F Krebs, Linda A Barbour, Bridget E Young
Journal: The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine
Date: July 2021

Sleep-disordered breathing in pregnancy: a developmental origin of offspring obesity?
Authors: Sarah S Farabi, Linda A Barbour, Teri L Hernandez
Journal: Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
Date: April 2021

Single Cell RNA Sequencing of Human Milk-Derived Cells Reveals Sub-Populations of Mammary Epithelial Cells with Molecular Signatures of Progenitor and Mature States: a Novel, Non-invasive Framework for Investigating Human Lactation Physiology
Authors: Jayne F. Martin Carli, et al
Journal: Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia
Date: November 2020

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is Associated with Altered Glycemic Patterns in Pregnant Women with Obesity
Authors: Sarah S. Farabi, Linda A. Barbour, Kristy Heiss, Nicole M. Hirsch, Emily Dunn, Teri L. Hernandez
Journal: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
Date: February 2019

Metformin for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Progeny, Perspective, and a Personalized Approach
Authors: Linda A. Barbour and Denice S. Feig
Journal: Diabetes Care
Date: March 2019

Continuous Glucose Monitoring in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Not Quite Ready for ‘Plug and Play’
Authors: Teri L.Hernandez, William W. Hay Jr, Paul Joseph Rozance
Journal: Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition
Date: November 2018

Nutrition Therapy Within and Beyond Gestational Diabetes
Authors: Teri L. Hernandez, Archana Mande, Linda A. Barbour
Journal: Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice
Date: November 2018

Maternal Lipids and Fetal Overgrowth: Making Fat from Fat
Authors: Linda A. Barbour and Teri L. Hernandez
Journal: Clinical Therapeutics
Date: October 2018

Nutrition Therapy in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Time to Move Forward
Authors: Teri L. Hernandez and Jennie C. Brand-Miller
Journal: Diabetes Care
Date: July 2018

A Cautionary Response to SMFM Statement: Pharmacological Treatment of Gestational Diabetes
Authors: Linda A. Barbour, et al
Journal: American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Date: June 2018

Changing Perspectives in Pre-Existing Diabetes and Obesity in Pregnancy: Maternal and Infant Short- and Long-Term Outcomes
Author: Linda A. Barbour
Journal: Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Obesity
Date: 2014

Unresolved Controversies in Gestational Diabetes: Implications on Maternal and Fetal Health
Author: Linda A. Barbour
Journal: Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Obesity
Date: 2014