A new Danish study links inflammatory feeding with a link at high risk for type 1 diabetes, highlighting the mid-pregnancy as an important window for prevention.
になったんです。 English: The first thing you can do is to find the best one to do.Study: Association of proinflammatory dietary patterns during pregnancy and offspring risk of type 1 diabetes: a prospective cohort study. Image credit: Rimma Bondarenko / Shutterstock
A diet that is rich in foods that can promote low-grade inflammation during pregnancy may increase the risk of children developing type 1 diabetes, suggesting that a Danish study has been published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
This dietary pattern is associated with an increased risk of 16% for each increase in one standard deviation (one unit) of dietary measurements of inflammatory food intake, the findings show.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder characterized by the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, requiring lifelong insulin therapy.
New cases of type 1 diabetes are steadily increasing, particularly in developed countries, with an average annual increase of 3-4%, which strongly suggests the important role of environmental factors.
And because the immune system develops and establishes itself to some extent in childhood and before birth, there are strong cases for investigating the role of mothers' diet, especially during pregnancy.
To explore this further, researchers derive data from pregnant women in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) (January 1996 to October 2002).
They calculated inflammatory-based scores of normal dietary intake (EDII score) for pregnant mothers during pregnancy using a comprehensive food frequency questionnaire targeting 38 (360 separate items).
Foods associated with a higher inflammatory score include lean meat, low-fat dairy products, pizza, margarine, potatoes, low-energy drinks, fries and delicious snacks. Foods associated with low inflammatory scores included allium (onions and garlic), tomatoes, whole grains, coffee, green leafy vegetables, fruit juice, dark meatfish, black tea and fruit.
In all, the final analysis included 67,701 mother-child pairs.
Information on the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in children was obtained through collaboration with the Danish registration for childhood and adolescent diabetes. Approximately 281 children (0.42%) developed the condition during the average follow-up period of 17 years. The median age at the time of diagnosis was 10.2 years.
The average mother's EDII score ranged from -5.3 to 4.1, with higher scores indicating higher dietary intakes for inflammatory foods.
Increased EDII scores were associated with younger mothers' age, reduced alcohol consumption, shorter breastfeeding duration, and less favorable socioeconomic situations. They were also associated with a higher BMI (weight) and a tendency to smoke beyond the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
There was no significant difference in total energy intake among women with the highest and lowest EDII scores. However, daily intakes of lean meat, low-fat dairy products, pizza, margarine, potatoes, low-energy drinks, fries and delicious snacks were increasing.
On the other hand, higher daily intakes of allium (onions and garlic), tomatoes, whole grains, coffee, green leafy vegetables, fruit juice, dark meatfish, black tea and fruit were reflected in a lower EDII score.
The risk of type 1 diabetes in children was related to mothers' EDII scores, with a 16% increase in scores up to age 18 after considering potentially influential factors. This estimate reflects an increased risk associated with an increase in the standard deprecation of one EDII score.
This risk was not affected by the sex or weight of the child at birth, but appears to have been influenced by the mother's gluten intake and whether or not they smoked during pregnancy.
An estimated 10 g increase in gluten intake was associated with a 36% increase in risk. However, this association was observed in additional statistical models rather than in primary adjustment models.
Interestingly, smoking during pregnancy was associated with a lower risk of type 1 diabetes in children, but smoking had no obvious effect during the first 12 weeks.
This is an observational study, and therefore the cause and effect cannot be established. Researchers were unable to explain the child's diet.
But they write: “Low-grade inflammatory conditions secondary to changes in immune cell profiles that cause proinflammatory pathways are increasingly recognized as an important early factor affecting offspring health.”
They note: “The exact mechanisms that regulate the diet of immune responses can provide some cues to certain nutritional content, but some cues can provide some cues.”
They add: “Three factors in the middle trimester, proinflammatory dietary patterns, gluten and smoking appear to independently predict the risk of children with type 1 diabetes.
