Genes, Vol. 15, Pages 76: The Effect of Maternal Diet and Physical Activity on the Epigenome of the Offspring

Genes, Vol. 15, Pages 76: The Effect of Maternal Diet and Physical Activity on the Epigenome of the Offspring Genes doi: 10.3390/genes15010076 Authors: Anastasia Panagiotidou Christos Chatzakis Athina Ververi Makarios Eleftheriades Alexandros Sotiriadis The aim of this review was to examine the current literature regarding the effect of maternal lifestyle interventions (i.e., diet and physical activity) on the epigenome of the offspring. PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane-CENTRAL were screened until 8 July 2023. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) where a lifestyle intervention was compared to no intervention (standard care) were included. Outcome variables included DNA methylation, miRNA expression, and histone modifications. A qualitative approach was used for the consideration of the studies’ results. Seven studies and 1765 mother–child pairs were assessed. The most common types of intervention were dietary advice, physical activity, and following a specific diet (olive oil). The included studies correlated the lifestyle and physical activity intervention in pregnancy to genome-wide or gene-specific differential methylation and miRNA expression in the cord blood or the placenta. An intervention of diet and physical activity in pregnancy was found to be associated with slight changes in the epigenome (DNA methylation and miRNA expression) in fetal tissues. The regions involved were related to adiposity, metabolic processes, type 2 d...
Source: Genes - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research