Maternal Dietary Free or Bound Fructose Diversely Influence Developmental Programming of Lipogenesis

Background Maternal dietary choices throughout preconception, pregnancy, and lactation irreversibly affect the development of fetal tissues and organs, known as fetal programming. Recommendations tend to emphasize reducing added sugars. However, the impact of maternal dietary free or bound fructose in added sugars on developmental programming of lipogenesis is unknown. Methods Virgin Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups. Rats were given feed and plain water (control) or water containing maltodextrin (vehicle), fructose, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) containing 55% fructose, sucrose (20% w/v) for 12 weeks before mating and throughout the pregnancy and lactation periods. Body weight, water, and feed intake were measured throughout the study. At the end of the lactation period, blood was drawn to determine the fasting levels of glucose, insulin, triglycerides, and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) in blood. Triglycerides and acetyl Co-A Carboxylase-1 (ACC1) levels in livers were analyzed, and insulin resistance was calculated. Results The energy intake of dams in the HFCS group was higher than in the fructose group, while weight gain was less in the HFCS group than in the fructose group. HFCS resulted in greater insulin resistance in dams, whereas free fructose had a robust effect on the fetal programming of insulin resistance. Free fructose and HFCS in the maternal diet increased blood and liver triglycerides and NEFA content in pups. Furthermore, fructose and HFCS exposure increased phosphorylated ACC1 as compared to maltodextrin and control, indicating greater fatty acid synthesis in pups and dams. Conclusion Different types of added sugar in the maternal diet have different metabolic effects on the developmental programming of lipogenesis. Consequently, high fructose intake via processed foods may increase the risk for chronic diseases, and free fructose might contribute to developmental programming of chronic diseases more than bound fructose.PubMedWoSScopu

Nutrition, Health and Dietary Trends

The Global Burden Disease (GBD), the largest comparative analysis of the 79 leading risk factors, confirms that poor nutrition is the single most important contributor to the burden of premature morbidity and mortality, accounting for more than 10% of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) especially from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. At the same time, nutrition remains the cornerstone of therapy for the prevention and management of chronic diseases. Dietary pattern-based clinical practice guidelines have provided clinicians, patients, and the public with a number of evidence-based options for the prevention and management of chronic diseases. The Mediterranean Diet is one of the dietary patterns that has been more extensively evaluated and strong evidence from observational and intervention studies has accumulated on its health benefits for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and other major chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and probably cognitive impairment. Nutrition could affect diet-induced inflammation, and the evolution of western diets has resulted in an increase of this inflammatory background signature, associated with a progressively increasing rate of chronic degenerative conditions. Several studies are in progress to evaluate the effect of anti-inflammatory interventions in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. The data emerging indicates that dose and assessment of markers of reduced diet-induced inflammation may be important to assess potential benefit and tailor intervention guidelines