Next Article in Journal
Insulin Resistance in Obese Children: What Can Metabolomics and Adipokine Modelling Contribute?
Previous Article in Journal
Comparison between Experience-Based and Household-Undernourishment Food Security Indicators: A Cautionary Tale
 
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
Journals
Nutrients
Volume 12
Issue 11
10.3390/nu12113309
nutrients-logo
Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Propose a Special Issue
► Article Menu

Article Menu

share Share announcement Help format_quote Cite question_answer Discuss in SciProfiles
first_page
settings
Order Article Reprints
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Association between Breastfeeding and DNA Methylation over the Life Course: Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

by
Fernando Pires Hartwig
1,2,*,
George Davey Smith
2,
Andrew J. Simpkin
2,3,
Cesar Gomes Victora
1,
Caroline L. Relton
2 and
Doretta Caramaschi
2
1
Postgraduate Programme in Epidemiology, Department of Social Medicine, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas 96020-220, Brazil
2
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Science, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
3
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics, National University of Ireland, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2020, 12(11), 3309; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113309
Submission received: 7 October 2020 / Revised: 23 October 2020 / Accepted: 25 October 2020 / Published: 29 October 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Nutrition and Public Health)
Browse Figure
Versions Notes

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding is associated with short and long-term health benefits. Long-term effects might be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms, yet the literature on this topic is scarce. We performed the first epigenome-wide association study of infant feeding, comparing breastfed vs non-breastfed children. We measured DNA methylation in children from peripheral blood collected in childhood (age 7 years, N = 640) and adolescence (age 15–17 years, N = 709) within the Accessible Resource for Integrated Epigenomic Studies (ARIES) project, part of the larger Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Cord blood methylation (N = 702) was used as a negative control for potential pre-natal residual confounding. Results: Two differentially-methylated sites presented directionally-consistent associations with breastfeeding at ages 7 and 15–17 years, but not at birth. Twelve differentially-methylated regions in relation to breastfeeding were identified, and for three of them there was evidence of directional concordance between ages 7 and 15–17 years, but not between birth and age 7 years. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that DNA methylation in childhood and adolescence may be predicted by breastfeeding, but further studies with sufficiently large samples for replication are required to identify robust associations.
Keywords: breastfeeding; life-course; DNA methylation; epigenome-wide association study breastfeeding; life-course; DNA methylation; epigenome-wide association study

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Hartwig, F.P.; Davey Smith, G.; Simpkin, A.J.; Victora, C.G.; Relton, C.L.; Caramaschi, D. Association between Breastfeeding and DNA Methylation over the Life Course: Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Nutrients 2020, 12, 3309. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113309

AMA Style

Hartwig FP, Davey Smith G, Simpkin AJ, Victora CG, Relton CL, Caramaschi D. Association between Breastfeeding and DNA Methylation over the Life Course: Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Nutrients. 2020; 12(11):3309. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113309

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hartwig, Fernando Pires, George Davey Smith, Andrew J. Simpkin, Cesar Gomes Victora, Caroline L. Relton, and Doretta Caramaschi. 2020. "Association between Breastfeeding and DNA Methylation over the Life Course: Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)" Nutrients 12, no. 11: 3309. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113309

APA Style

Hartwig, F. P., Davey Smith, G., Simpkin, A. J., Victora, C. G., Relton, C. L., & Caramaschi, D. (2020). Association between Breastfeeding and DNA Methylation over the Life Course: Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Nutrients, 12(11), 3309. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113309

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop