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Maternal, Perinatal and Pediatric Nutrition (Poster Session)

(P10-092-24) Maternal Nitrate Supplementation During an Obese Pregnancy Beneficially Impacts Cardiometabolic Measures of Offspring

Sunday, June 30, 2024
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM CT
Location: Poster Board 586
Disclosure(s):
Katelyn E. Senkus, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Janie C. DiNatale, MS, RD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Khondoker Adeba Ferdous, MS: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: Obesity during pregnancy is associated with excess adiposity and metabolic abnormalities of offspring due to fetal programming. Although the impact of dietary nitrate on cardiometabolic health has been established in adults, it is unknown if it would exhibit similar benefits to offspring. This study assessed cardiometabolic outcomes of Sprague-Dawley rats from dams fed a high fat diet (HFD) with or without inorganic nitrate.

Methods: Eight-week-old female rats (n=11) were randomized to 10% normal fat diet (NFD) or 45% HFD. Upon confirmation of obesity by bioimpedance spectroscopy, HFD rats (n=4) were transitioned to HFD with 40 mg inorganic nitrate (HFDN). NFD (n=4), HFD (n=3), and HFDN (n=4) maintained their respective diets, yet all weanling pups were transitioned to NFD at post-natal day 21 (P21). Pups were euthanized at P21, P42, and P65 representing weanling, periadolescent, and young adult phases. Body composition outcomes included body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), and brown adipose tissue (BAT) of offspring. Additionally, serum nitrate, cardiometabolic biomarkers, and blood pressure were assessed.

Results: Obesity was confirmed before mating with HFD and HFDN groups exhibiting significantly greater (p < 0.05) BW and fat mass compared to NFD group. Serum nitrate was significantly higher in HFDN dams, yet there were no significant differences in maternal cardiometabolic biomarkers between groups. At P21, BW was significantly lower in pups reared by NFD and HFDN dams compared to those reared by HFD dams (p=0.044, p=0.027, respectively). WC and glucose were significantly lower in HFDN pups compared to NFD (p=0.004, p=0.003, respectively) and HFD pups (p=0.011, p=0.006, respectively). At P42, no significant differences were observed. At P65, WC was lower in HFDN pups compared to NFD and HFD pups, albeit non-significantly (p=0.051). HFDN pups also exhibited significantly lower triglycerides compared to HFD pups (p=0.004).

Conclusions: Results suggest prenatal nitrate supplementation may beneficially impact cardiometabolic outcomes of offspring from an obese pregnancy including body weight, WC, glucose dynamics, and lipid profiles. Additional analyses are currently underway investigating cell-specific metabolism to explore epigenetic effects of nitrate on offspring.

Funding Sources: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics