Maternal folic acid supplementation with vitamin B deficiency during pregnancy and lactation affects the metabolic health of adult female offspring but is dependent on offspring diet.

Epidemiologic studies have reported relationships between maternal high folate and/or low B status during pregnancy and greater adiposity and insulin resistance in children. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of maternal folic acid supplementation (10 mg/kg diet), with (50 μg/kg diet) and without B, on adult female offspring adiposity and glucose homeostasis. Female C57BL/6J mice were fed 1 of 3 diets from weaning and throughout breeding, pregnancy, and lactation: control (2 mg/kg diet folic acid, 50 μg/kg diet B), supplemental folic acid with no B (SFA-B), or supplemental folic acid with adequate B (SFA+B). Female offspring were weaned onto the control diet or a Western diet (45% energy fat, 2 mg/kg diet folic acid, 50 μg/kg diet B) for 35 wk. After weaning, control diet-fed offspring with SFA-B dams had fasting hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance, lower β cell mass, and greater islet hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 homeobox α and nuclear receptor subfamily 1 group H member 3 mRNA than did offspring from control dams. In Western diet-fed offspring, those with SFA-B dams had lower fasting blood glucose and plasma insulin concentrations, and were smaller than control offspring. Our findings suggest that maternal folic acid supplementation with B deficiency during pregnancy/lactation programs the metabolic health of adult female offspring but is dependent on offspring diet.-Henderson, A. M., Tai, D. C., Aleliunas, R. E., Aljaadi, A. M., Glier, M. B., Xu, E. E., Miller, J. W., Verchere, C. B., Green, T. J., Devlin, A. M. Maternal folic acid supplementation with vitamin B deficiency during pregnancy and lactation affects the metabolic health of adult female offspring but is dependent on offspring diet.