High-fat diet in pregnancy linked to Alzheimer’s brain changes in offspring
A new study from scientists in Southampton has suggested that diet during pregnancy may affect an offspring’s risk of brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The research, which was funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, studied adult mice whose mothers were fed either a normal or a high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation. The study is due to be presented at Alzheimer’s Research UK Conference 2014 in Oxford this week.
Led by Dr Cheryl Hawkes at the University of Southampton, the team set out to investigate the links between obesity and Alzheimer’s. Obesity has been linked to a higher risk of the disease, and previous research has suggested that a mother’s diet during pregnancy may affect a child’s risk of obesity and conditions such as heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.
The researchers studied mice which were fed either a standard diet or a high-fat diet, and whose mothers were also fed either a high fat or standard diet during pregnancy and lactation. They then looked at markers of cholesterol and problems with blood vessels in the brain, both of which have been linked to Alzheimer’s.
They found that mice whose mothers ate a high-fat diet during pregnancy were more likely to have vascular changes in their brains later in life. Furthermore, when the offspring of mothers with a high-fat diet were also fed a high-fat diet, their brains’ blood vessels became less efficient at clearing the protein amyloid – a hallmark feature of the disease.
Dr Hawkes, an Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, said: “Our preliminary findings suggest that mothers’ diets during pregnancy may have long-term effects on their children’s brains and vascular health. We still need to do more work to understand how our findings translate to humans, but we have known for some time that protecting mothers’ health during pregnancy can help lower the risk of health problems for their children. Our next step will be to investigate how our findings could relate to Alzheimer’s disease in people. We hope these results could provide a new lead for research to understand how to prevent the disease.”
Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading dementia research charity, funding more than £20m of pioneering research into the condition across the UK. The charity’s annual conference on 25 and 26 March is the largest of its kind in the UK, and will see leading dementia scientists share their progress in the drive to defeat dementia.
Dr Eric Karran, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “It’s important to remember that this research is in mice, but these results add to existing evidence suggesting that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in later life is affected by our health earlier in life. This study goes one step further by suggesting that what happens in the womb may also be important. We’re pleased to have funded this research, which has shed new light on the complex picture of Alzheimer’s risk.
“Alzheimer’s is a complicated disease and it’s likely that our risk is affected by a number of different genetic and environmental factors. Research to understand these factors can help equip us to take steps to prevent the disease, but in the meantime, evidence suggests we can lower our risk by eating a healthy, balanced diet, doing regular exercise, not smoking and keeping our blood pressure and weight in check.”
