Metabolic programming of offspring by vitamin B₁₂/folate imbalance during pregnancy

Excerpt

With two reports in the current issue of Diabetologia, C. S. Yajnik and his international cast of collaborators have created conceptual bridges between some of the most important global public health challenges of our time: obesity (or is it adiposity?), fetal or early life origins of adult disease, and prevalent and persisting micronutrient malnutrition [1, 2]. One study from the cohort within the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study allows analysis of the relationship between maternal nutritional status and mid- and late pregnancy and childhood outcomes at 6 years of age [1]. A striking finding was that two-thirds of the mothers had low circulating levels of vitamin B₁₂; their offspring were short and thin, but had more body fat. This was associated with a high prevalence of insulin resistance, presumably presaging later entry into the epidemic of type 2 diabetes among adults in India. From this novel focus comes the observation that the combination or interaction of vitamin B₁₂ deficiency and high erythrocyte folate in mothers is associated with the highest prevalence of insulin resistance according to homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance. …