Effect of Maternal High-Fat Diet on Offspring’s Health

Dear Colleagues,

The rapidly increasing of obesity has become one of the major health problems in modern society. A high-fat diet is one of the factors that contribute to the increase of obesity. Maternal obesity increases the risk of pregnant complications, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, caesarean section, and preterm birth. In addition, maternal high-fat diets can also influence fetal development and may lead to offspring programmed to metabolic problems in childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood stage.

The placenta is the key link between mother and the developing fetus and it performs many important functions in fetal growth. In addition to attaching the developing fetus to the uterine wall, the placenta is involved in the development of maternal immune tolerance, hormone production, nutrient assimilation, metabolic waste removal, gas exchange, and as a barrier to block harmful substances into the fetus through maternal-fetal blood supply. There is evidence that a high-fat diet in pregnant women can cause placental dysfunction and adversely affect fetal development. More research is needed to understand how a maternal high-fat diet affects the placenta to program offspring to exacerbate the development of metabolic problems in adulthood.

High-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation can impair the integrity of gut barrier and affect both maternal and offspring gut microbiomes, which may increase the risk of adverse health in offspring. The elucidation of gut microbiome adaptations and relevant molecule alteration has great implications for the prevention and treatment of healthy problem related to maternal high-fat diet.

Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) concept emphasis the effects of prenatal/perinatal exposure to environmental factors in determining the development of human diseases in adulthood. DOHaD concept also open a window for us early intervention to reprogram the effect of prenatal/perinatal adversities. The DOHaD concept also opens a window for early intervention, where we can re-program the effects of prenatal/perinatal adversity. More precise re-programming strategies are still urgent demanded.

The main aim of this Special Issue “Effect of maternal high-fat diet on offspring health” aims to enroll valuable studies on a broad range of targets, including maternal HF diet components, placenta pathology, microbiomes and its metabolites, future child and adult health, and re-programming strategies. Original studies, and review articles will be considered.

Prof. Dr. Hong-Ren Yu
Guest Editor

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