Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, New York, NY 14642, USA.
Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, Department of Physiology, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA.
Nutrients. 2022 Oct 11;14(20):4238. doi: 10.3390/nu14204238.
The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased nearly ten times over the last 40 years, influenced by early life nutrients that have persistent effects on life-long metabolism. During the first six months, infants undergo accelerated adipose accumulation, but little is known regarding infant fatty acid status and its relationship to infant body composition. We tested the hypothesis that a low arachidonic to docosahexaenoic acid ratio (AA/DHA) in infant red blood cells (RBCs), a long-term indicator of fatty acid intake, would associate with more infant fat-free mass (FFM) and/or less adipose accumulation over the first 4 months of life. The fatty acid and composition of breastmilk and infant RBCs, as well as the phospholipid composition of infant RBCs, were quantified using targeted and unbiased lipid mass spectrometry from infants predominantly breastfed or predominantly formula-fed. Regardless of feeding type, FFM accumulation was inversely associated with the infant’s RBC AA/DHA ratio (p = 0.029, R2 = 0.216). Infants in the lowest AA/DHA ratio tertile had significantly greater FFM when controlling for infant sex, adiposity at 2 weeks, and feeding type (p < 0.0001). Infant RBC phospholipid analyses revealed greater peroxisome-derived ether lipids in the low AA/DHA group, primarily within the phosphatidylethanolamines. Our findings support a role for a low AA/DHA ratio in promoting FFM accrual and identify peroxisomal activity as a target of DHA in the growing infant. Both FFM abundance and peroxisomal activity may be important determinants of infant metabolism during development.
过去 40 年来，儿童肥胖症的患病率增加了近 10 倍，这受到了生命早期营养物质的影响，这些营养物质对终身代谢产生持久影响。在头六个月，婴儿经历了脂肪的加速积累，但关于婴儿脂肪酸状况及其与婴儿身体成分的关系知之甚少。我们检验了这样一个假设，即在婴儿的红细胞（RBC）中，花生四烯酸与二十二碳六烯酸的比例（AA/DHA）较低，这是脂肪酸摄入的长期指标，与婴儿在生命的前 4 个月内增加无脂肪组织（FFM）和/或减少脂肪积累有关。使用靶向和非靶向脂质质谱法从主要母乳喂养或主要配方奶喂养的婴儿中定量检测了母乳和婴儿 RBC 的脂肪酸和组成，以及婴儿 RBC 的磷脂组成。无论喂养类型如何，FFM 的积累与婴儿 RBC 的 AA/DHA 比值呈负相关（p = 0.029，R2 = 0.216）。在控制婴儿性别、2 周时的肥胖程度和喂养类型后，AA/DHA 比值最低的 tertile 组婴儿的 FFM 显著增加（p < 0.0001）。婴儿 RBC 磷脂分析显示，在低 AA/DHA 组中，过氧化物酶衍生的醚脂质明显更多，主要存在于磷脂酰乙醇胺中。我们的研究结果支持 AA/DHA 比值低在促进 FFM 积累中的作用，并确定过氧化物酶体活性是 DHA 在生长中婴儿体内的作用靶点。FFM 丰度和过氧化物酶体活性可能都是婴儿发育过程中代谢的重要决定因素。
