Quantity and Quality of Carbohydrate Intake during Pregnancy, Newborn Body Fatness and Cardiac Autonomic Control: Conferred Cardiovascular Risk?
by
Kirsty M. Mckenzie 1,2, Hasthi U. Dissanayake 1,2, Rowena McMullan 1,2,3, Ian D. Caterson 1
, David S. Celermajer 2,3, Adrienne Gordon 2,3, Jonathan Hyett 2, Alice Meroni 1, Melinda Phang 1, Camille Raynes-Greenow 4, Jaimie W. Polson 2,5 and Michael R. Skilton 1,2,*
Kirsty M. Mckenzie 1,2, Hasthi U. Dissanayake 1,2, Rowena McMullan 1,2,3, Ian D. Caterson 1, David S. Celermajer 2,3, Adrienne Gordon 2,3, Jonathan Hyett 2, Alice Meroni 1, Melinda Phang 1, Camille Raynes-Greenow 4, Jaimie W. Polson 2,5 and Michael R. Skilton 1,2,*
1
Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders, D17-Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
2
Sydney Medical School, D17-Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
3
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Missenden Road, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia
4
Sydney School of Public Health, Edward Ford Building, Fisher Road, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
5
School of Medical Science & Bosch Institute, Anderson Stuart Building (F13), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2017, 9(12), 1375; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9121375
Received: 16 November 2017 / Revised: 12 December 2017 / Accepted: 12 December 2017 / Published: 19 December 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Carbohydrate Diet and Human Health)
The fetal environment has an important influence on health and disease over the life course. Maternal nutritional status during pregnancy is potentially a powerful contributor to the intrauterine environment, and may alter offspring physiology and later life cardio-metabolic risk. Putative early life markers of cardio-metabolic risk include newborn body fatness and cardiac autonomic control. We sought to determine whether maternal dietary carbohydrate quantity and/or quality during pregnancy are associated with newborn body composition and cardiac autonomic function. Maternal diet during pregnancy was assessed in 142 mother-infant pairs using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Infant adiposity and body composition were assessed at birth using air-displacement plethysmography. Cardiac autonomic function was assessed as heart rate variability. The quantity of carbohydrates consumed during pregnancy, as a percentage of total energy intake, was not associated with meaningful differences in offspring birth weight, adiposity or heart rate variability (p > 0.05). There was some evidence that maternal carbohydrate quality, specifically higher fibre and lower glycemic index, is associated with higher heart rate variability in the newborn offspring (p = 0.06). This suggests that poor maternal carbohydrate quality may be an important population-level inter-generational risk factor for later cardiac and hemodynamic risk of their offspring.
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Keywords:
carbohydrate; maternal diet; fibre; glycaemic index; glycaemic load; autonomic function; body composition; heart rate variability; infant; adiposity
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MDPI and ACS Style
Mckenzie, K.M.; Dissanayake, H.U.; McMullan, R.; Caterson, I.D.; Celermajer, D.S.; Gordon, A.; Hyett, J.; Meroni, A.; Phang, M.; Raynes-Greenow, C.; Polson, J.W.; Skilton, M.R. Quantity and Quality of Carbohydrate Intake during Pregnancy, Newborn Body Fatness and Cardiac Autonomic Control: Conferred Cardiovascular Risk? Nutrients 2017, 9, 1375.
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