Abstract
Background: Whether maternal iron status during pregnancy is associated with cardiometabolic health in the offspring is poorly known. Objectives: We aimed to assess the associations of maternal iron status during early pregnancy with body fat measures and cardiometabolic risk factors in children aged 10 y. Methods: In a population-based cohort study among 3718 mother–child pairs, we measured ferritin, transferrin, and transferrin saturation during early pregnancy. We obtained child BMI, fat mass index, and android/gynoid fat mass ratio by DXA, subcutaneous fat index, visceral fat index, pericardial fat index, and liver fat fraction by magnetic resonance imaging and assessed systolic and diastolic blood pressure, serum lipids, glucose, insulin, and CRP at 10 y. Results: A one-standard deviation score (SDS) higher maternal ferritin was associated with lower fat mass index [difference −0.05 (95% CI: −0.08, −0.02) SDS] and subcutaneous fat index [difference −0.06 (95% CI: −0.10, −0.02) SDS] in children. One-SDS higher maternal transferrin was associated with higher fat mass index [difference 0.04 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.07) SDS], android/gynoid fat mass ratio [difference 0.05 (95% CI: 0.02, 0.08) SDS], and subcutaneous fat index [difference 0.06 (95% CI: 0.02, 0.10) SDS] in children. Iron status during pregnancy was not consistently associated with organ fat and cardiometabolic risk factors at 10 y. Conclusions: Maternal lower ferritin and higher transferrin in early pregnancy are associated with body fat accumulation and distribution but are not associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in childhood. Underlying mechanisms and long-term consequences warrant further study.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 191-198 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |
| Volume | 117 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam , the Erasmus University Rotterdam , and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development . Hugo G. Quezada-Pinedo received funding from the Academy Ter Meulen grant of the Academy Medical Sciences Fund of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( KNAWWF/1327/TMB202116 ). Vincent Jaddoe received funding from the European Research Council (grant number ERC-2014CoG-648916 ). Liesbeth Duijts received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (LIFECYCLE, grant agreement No 733206, 2016; EUCAN-Connect grant agreement No 824989; ATHLETE, grant agreement No 874583). The researchers are independent from the funders. The study sponsors had no role in the study design, data analysis, interpretation of data, or writing of this report.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Society for Nutrition