MATERNAL DIETARY TYPE AND AMOUNT OF OIL DURING PREGNANCY AND LACTATION PROGRAMS APPETITE AND BODY COMPOSITION THROUGH EPIGENETIC PROCESSES

Obesity and osteoporosis are increasing globally. One emerging potentially important contributing factor is epigenetic alterations (1). Epigenetic alterations produce changes in phenotype without changes in genotype. This modification acquired early in life by exposure to environmental factors, may contribute to the later development of obesity in offspring, correlate with offspring adiposity, and is important for transgenerational propagation of changes in energy metabolism that promotes weight gain and obesity (2). Unlike alterations in genetic codes, epigenetic changes are modifiable by dietary energy and factors. The developmental origin of health and disease emphasizes environmental conditions both before and immediately after birth. Fetus learns to adapt to the environment they expect to enter into once outside of the womb. Essentially, all transmissions entering the placenta act as postcards giving the fetus clues as to the outside world, preparing its physiology appropriately (3). Maternal dietary composition effects on fetal genome and regulates epigenetic pathways (4). Evidence has shown that environmental factors may act early in development (in utero and early postnatal life), interacting with the genome to produce a persistent influence on postnatal development (5). Macronutrient s distribution in maternal diet determines body composition in offspring (6). Moreover, amount and type of maternal dietary oil during gestation and lactation can induce permanent changes in gene expression and metabolism (7). Recent studies in adult and weanling rats showed that dietary fat, in close association with circulating lipids, can stimulate expression of hypothalamic peptides involved in controlling food intake and body weight through persistent neuronal changes (8). Increase in the expression of orexigenic peptides, galanin, enkephalin and dynorphin, in the paraventricular nucleus and orexin and melanin-concentrating hormone in the perifornical lateral hypothalamus have been showed. One study showed that high amounts of beneficial oils such as extra virgin olive oil in maternal diet has deleterious effect on bone of offspring at adolescence (9). It is suggested that bone and fat tissue are differentiated from the same source of mesenchymal stem cells. Type and amount of dietary oil effect on these pathways which lead to permanent alterations in body composition (10). Then, it is suggested that any dietary modification must be done from fetal period and immediately after birth. Increase in dietary oil, even beneficial oils, alter body composition and appetite in the next generation.