Early pregnancy lipids predict child growth trajectories

A positive association exists between early pregnancy metabolomic signatures and child growth acceleration, a study has shown.

A total of 1,152 mother-child dyads from the Pregnancy Environment and Lifestyle Study were analysed. The authors measured maternal untargeted metabolomics by gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry, reversed phase-, and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry using fasting serum collected at gestational weeks 10 to 13.

Growth trajectories were defined by changes in weight-for-length z-scores from birth to age 1 or 2 years. Associations between metabolites and child growth trajectories were examined using Poisson regression. The authors also conducted chemical enrichment analysis to identify metabolite clusters associated with child growth trajectories, adjusted for false discovery rate (FDR).

Overall, 431 annotated metabolites were identified. From birth to 1 year of age, the polyunsaturated plasmalogen phosphatidylcholine (PC) cluster correlated with growth acceleration. On the other hand, unsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids correlated with growth deceleration (all PDR-corrected p<0.05).

Furthermore, associations were observed between polyunsaturated plasmalogen PC and unsaturated PC clusters and extreme growth acceleration from birth to 1 year, between dicarboxylic acids and extreme growth acceleration from birth to 2 years, and between branched-chain amino acids and extreme growth deceleration from birth to 2 years (all FDR-corrected p<0.05).

“[These] findings may provide insights into how early pregnancy metabolomic changes shape development,” the authors said.