MSACL 2019 EU Abstract

Metabolomic Barometer of Gestational and Postpartum Weight in Overweight Pregnant Women

Chung-Ho E. Lau1, Victoria Taylor-Bateman1, Panagiotis A Vorkas1, Gonçalo Graça1, Elena Chekmeneva1,2, Timothy M.D. Ebbels1, Linda Van Horn3, Queenie Chan4, Elaine Holmes1,5
1 Division of Integrative Systems and Digestive Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. 2 NIHR-BRC Clinical Phenotyping Centre, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. 3 Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, United States. 4 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. 5. Institute of Health Futures, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

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Chung-Ho E. Lau (Presenter) Imperial College London >> POSTER (PDF)

Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months) No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

Background: Obesity amongst women of reproductive age is increasingly common in developed nations and has been shown to adversely affect childhood cardio-metabolic, respiratory and cognitive-related health outcomes in offspring. Metabolomic signatures of obesity are readily captured in biofluids samples and could potentially provide a molecular barometer for monitoring excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) and postpartum weight loss (WL) in overweight/obese pregnant women.
Methods: Urine and blood plasma samples were collected from 114 overweight or obese ethnically diverse pregnant women from Chicago (USA), as part of a randomised diet and lifestyle intervention trial (Maternal Offspring Metabolics Family Intervention Trial; www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT01631747). Blood plasma lipids and urine samples at 15 weeks, 35 weeks of gestation, and at 1 year postpartum were respectively analysed by LC-MS and NMR.
Results: Urinary 4-deoxyerythronic acid was found positively correlated to body mass index (BMI) and a broad spectrum of alterations in levels of blood plasma phosphatidylcholines, lysophospholipids, and sphingomyelins were associated with BMI, GWG, and WL. Specifically, several plasmanyl-/plasmenyl-phospholipids were negatively associated with GWG, and lysophosphatidylcholines (including LPC 20:4) were positively associated with WL. Multiple lipids with apparent 18:2 fatty-acid chains were significantly associated with GWG/ WL, suggesting linoleic acid, an essential nutrient, may play an important role in prenatal and postpartum weight management.
Conclusions: Maternal obesity-related parameters are associated with urine and plasma metabolomic profiles, which could be further exploited to evaluate the beneficial effect of diet and lifestyle intervention in pregnancy.