Objective
The project objective is to evaluate the effect of a pregnancy diet with anti-inflammatory properties and its content of omega-3 fatty acids on the child’s risk of developing T1D. Furthermore, we seek a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in the proposed association by evaluating the inflammatory and immunological status of the mother using a panel of immuno-metabolic biomarkers.
Specifically, we wish to study the role of four different nutritional exposures during pregnancy:
Study 1) Intake of diets with presumed anti-inflammatory properties
Study 2) Intake of omega-3 fatty acids
Study 3) Omega-3 fatty acid status
Study 4) Inflammatory/immunological status
We apply for support to address the studies 3 and 4, which can be accomplished within 2 years. The status of omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory/immunological status is based on analyses of blood samples taken from the DNBC mothers at three different time points during pregnancy. We want to compare the status of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as inflammatory/immunological status of mothers to T1D children with the status of mothers to healthy children. This will clarify whether inflammation-related dietary exposures during fetal life is an early contributing factor to a child’s risk of developing T1D.
Background Rationale
A great incentive to investigate dietary exposures during pregnancy is based on published scientific literature, where especially dietary components with anti-inflammatory properties have shown promising results. However, the relationship between nutritional anti-inflammatory exposures during fetal life and T1D needs to be further investigated by use of large study populations, including information on pregnancy diet and a long T1D tracking history of the children. For this purpose, the DNBC is very qualified and there is a high potential for seminal findings in this field, using the DNBC population.
Description of Project
While genes are still believed to play an important role in the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D), environmental factors are gaining increasing interest within T1D research. An important environmental factor in many chronic diseases is the diet, and especially a diet that may modulate inflammation and the immune system (e.g. an anti-inflammatory diet) is of interest in the prevention of T1D. In this study, we will investigate the potential impact of a mother’s pregnancy diet on the child’s risk of developing T1D. Specifically, we wish to study the preventive potential of an anti-inflammatory diet during pregnancy with focus on its content of omega-3 fatty acids on T1D development.
We will use information on diet derived from the unique Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), which is a large population-based study, established in 1996 through 2003, including around 100,000 Danish pregnant women and their children. When enrolling, the women agreed to participate in different types of data collection, including answering questionnaires about their habitual diet and providing blood twice during their pregnancy and at the time of birth. The children from these pregnancies have been followed up over 18 years and T1D diagnoses have been registered in a high-quality patient registry, where so far around 375 children from DNBC have been registered with T1D.
Anticipated Outcome
We expect that an anti-inflammatory diet during pregnancy reduces the child’s risk of developing T1D. Such results may drive new dietary recommendations and possibly direct future studies on the role of specific food components that are part of the anti-inflammatory diet. Furthermore, high intake and status of omega-3 fatty acids, which are already known for their anti-inflammatory properties in different clinical settings, are expected to decrease T1D risk, possibly via regulating the inflammatory and immunological state in a beneficial manner. We expect that this will be reflected by the inflammatory and immunological status of the mothers.
Relevance to T1D
As more research points to a partly lifestyle-determined background to T1D, this suggests that lifestyle changes could lower the risk of developing the disease. Lifestyle changes and especially dietary guidelines during pregnancy comprise propitious strategies for prevention already during fetal life. Research on diets and dietary components in relation to T1D research is essential in the discovery of new therapeutic and preventive strategies in the clinical practice for T1D. Results from our study could be an important contribution in informing the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Beside from collecting the relevant knowledge to establish useful dietary guidelines for T1D prevention, this research could possibly shed light on the underlying mechanisms linking lifestyle-driven inflammation to T1D and thereby add new knowledge to basic T1D research.