Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education (Fudan University), 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China; Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Building V of Zhongfu Square, Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, 322000, China.
Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and the Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Clin Nutr. 2023 Apr;42(4):458-466. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2023.02.013. Epub 2023 Feb 21.
Little is known about the transgenerational effect of nutrition deficiency in early life. This study aimed to evaluate the associations of fetal and childhood exposure to famine of parents with their offspring's risk of overweight during childhood.
This analysis included a total of 3734 participants of the China Health and Nutrition Survey aged 1-17 years whose fathers and/or mothers were born in 1955-1966. These children were classified into subgroups according to parental famine exposure status (unexposed and exposed) and timing (fetal-exposed and childhood-exposed). Random effects models were applied to evaluate the associations of parental famine exposure with body mass index (BMI) and overweight of offspring. Fractional polynomial functions were adopted to describe trajectories of BMI against age.
Compared with children of unexposed parents, there was a lower risk of overweight among offspring of childhood-exposed fathers [OR (95%CI): 0.80 (0.61, 1.04)] or exposed parents [0.84 (0.68, 1.04)], particularly among male offspring, but not among those with exposed mothers only [0.98 (0.65, 1.47)]. For BMI, children with exposed mothers only had a slightly higher BMI [β(95%CI): 0.17 (-0.15, 0.49)], while those with exposed fathers only had no difference [-0.02 (-0.23, 0.19)] or exposed parents had a slightly lower BMI [-0.17 (-0.33, 0.00)] (p < 0.05 for interaction between maternal and paternal exposures). Stratified analysis showed little heterogeneity between male and female offspring, but the association between paternal childhood exposure to famine and lower overweight risk in offspring was more evident in high (vs low) paternal education group (p for interaction< 0.05).
The transgenerational associations of early-life exposure to famine with lower risks of child overweight may be via the paternal line and differ by the educational levels of parents. Further studies are warranted to confirm the results and reveal the biological mechanisms underlying.
人们对生命早期营养缺乏的跨代效应知之甚少。本研究旨在评估父母在胎儿期和儿童期经历饥荒与后代儿童期超重风险之间的关联。
本分析共纳入了中国健康与营养调查中年龄在 1-17 岁的 3734 名参与者，他们的父亲和/或母亲出生于 1955-1966 年。这些儿童根据父母饥荒暴露状况（未暴露和暴露）和时间（胎儿期暴露和儿童期暴露）分为亚组。采用随机效应模型评估父母饥荒暴露与子女体重指数（BMI）和超重的关系。采用分数多项式函数描述 BMI 随年龄的变化轨迹。
与未暴露于父母饥荒的儿童相比，儿童期暴露于父亲饥荒的子女超重风险较低[比值比（95%置信区间）：0.80（0.61, 1.04）]或暴露于父母饥荒[0.84（0.68, 1.04）]，特别是男性子女，但仅暴露于母亲饥荒的子女则不然[0.98（0.65, 1.47）]。对于 BMI，仅暴露于母亲饥荒的儿童 BMI 略高[β（95%置信区间）：0.17（-0.15, 0.49）]，而仅暴露于父亲饥荒的儿童 BMI 无差异[-0.02（-0.23, 0.19）]或暴露于父母饥荒的儿童 BMI 略低[-0.17（-0.33, 0.00）]（母亲和父亲暴露之间的交互作用 p<0.05）。分层分析显示，男性和女性子女之间的异质性较小，但父亲在儿童期经历饥荒与后代超重风险降低之间的关联在父亲教育程度较高（vs 较低）的群体中更为明显（交互作用 p<0.05）。
生命早期暴露于饥荒与儿童超重风险降低的跨代关联可能通过父系传递，且因父母的教育水平而异。需要进一步的研究来证实这些结果并揭示其潜在的生物学机制。
