Maternal Chrono-Nutrition and Placental DNA Methylation: The BiSC Study

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Epigenetics
• Maternal-Child Health
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Diet during pregnancy impacts birth outcomes and child health via epigenetic changes.
• The role of meal timing (chrono-nutrition) in pregnancy on these outcomes is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between maternal meal timing behaviors and placental DNA methylation (plaDNAm).
• To explore potential epigenetic mechanisms linking chrono-nutrition to fetal development.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) in 389 pregnant women from the Barcelona Life Study Cohort (BiSC).
• Collected chrono-nutrition and dietary data at 20 weeks gestation.
• Analyzed placental DNA methylation using the Illumina EPIC array and linear robust regression models.

Main Results:

• Identified 7 significant CpGs (Bonferroni p < 1E-08) and 63 suggestive CpGs (p < 1E-05) associated with the time of the last meal.
• Notable hits include cg13147785 (E2F8) linked to placental cell cycle regulation.
• Other hits like cg17665505 (DAP) and cg18303215 (ABCG5) have associations with adult smoking and lung diseases.

Conclusions:

• Maternal chrono-nutrition, particularly the timing of the last meal, is associated with specific CpG sites in the placenta.
• These findings suggest meal timing may influence fetal development through epigenetic pathways.
• Further research is needed to elucidate the precise mechanisms and long-term health implications.