Oxidative stress and fatty acids profile in infants: influence of genetic factors and dietary pattern

The 1000 days between a women’s pregnancy and her child’s 2nd birthday is a period of both tremendous potential and enormous vulnerability and offer a unique window of opportunity to build healthier and more prosperous futures. The adoption of good nutrition practices during this period is important in order to provide the essential building blocks for child’s brain development, health growth and strong immune system and to set the foundations for lifelong health, including the predispositions to obesity and certain chronic diseases. The aim of my PhD project was to investigate the relationship of different typology of epidemiological data (dietary and biological data) collected and already available, obtained from the Italian component of PHIME study, a prospective mother-child cohort study. Maternal dietary data were collected using a food frequency questionnaire administered at 30-32 weeks of gestation (n = 646) whereas children dietary data were gathered using a 7-day dietary record (food diary) at 18 months of age (n = 389). These nutritional data were used to estimate energy and nutrients intake for the evaluation of adherence to Italian dietary recommendations and to assess the different eating behaviours in term of foods and food groups. Lipidomic analysis was carried out on human milk samples (n = 61) collected one month after birth. Correlation analysis between fatty acids (FAs) profile and indexes from maternal dietary intake, human milk samples, maternal age, maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was performed using Spearman rank test. Pregnant women showed a low compliance with dietary recommendations with an excessive intake of total fats, saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and sugars and insufficient intake of essential fatty acids (linoleic acid - LA, eicosapentaenoic acid- EPA and docosahexaenoic acid - DHA) iron, folate and vitamin D. This was probably due to a low varied diet, characterized by a high consumption of milk and dairy products and meat and cured meat whereas the eating of fish, pulses and nuts were negligible. As well, children diet at 18 months of age was unbalanced with an excessive intake of proteins, mainly from animal sources (milk and dairy products and meat and cured meat) and a scarce intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), in particular essential FAs (EPA and DHA) and vitamin D. Moreover, most of children consumed a high amount of sweets and dessert reflecting in an excessive intake of soluble carbohydrates while the consumption of fish and pulses were scarce. Human milk FAs profile was characterized by higher levels of total SFAs, in particular palmitic acid, and total monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) even if the most abundant fatty acid was LA. The content of PUFAs ω3 series was very low. A negative correlation was found between arachidonic acid in human milk samples and maternal dietary intake of total MUFA, oleic acid, LA and ALA (p<0.005). Understanding how eating patterns change during this sensitive period (first 1000 days) is important in order to identify possible critical aspects, which should be monitored and addressed in accordance with national and international recommendations.