Is maternal diet a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease?
Published on 01 March 2025
The first 1,000 days of a person's life are a key period for the child's development, his or her health and that of the adult he or she will become. From pregnancy to infancy, the brain and body develop at an extraordinary rate, and the environments in which a child grows up can have a lasting influence on his or her development and health as an adult. In particular, the nutritional environment of the fetus and newborn influences the formation of organs, which undergo remodeling in response to the nutrients and hormones present. For example, an in utero environment or maternal milk rich in fat will lead to hypertrophy of the adipocytes, which will then be able to store this excess fat. An abundance of maternal leptin (a hormone secreted by adipose tissue) can disrupt synaptic connections in the brain. All organs are likely to be affected, and the brain is not spared.
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, have aging as their main risk factor. They are characterized by a deterioration in cognitive function, associated with defined neuronal damage (pathological protein aggregation, neuronal cell death, inflammation and oxidative stress, among others). While advanced age inexorably induces neuronal and cognitive losses, the nutritional environment can modulate, positively or negatively, cognitive deficits and the extent of brain damage.
From pregnancy through to early childhood, the mother's diet is the sole source of nutrients for the fetus and the breastfed newborn. Thus, a poor maternal diet is a favourable environment for the development of various pathologies, and we set out to determine whether a maternal diet rich in fat and/or sugar could make the offspring more vulnerable to neurodegenerative diseases.
In a review of the literature, we demonstrated a correlation between poor maternal nutrition and cognitive impairment in offspring (in human and rodent models). The underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms were common to those found in neurodegenerative diseases. A direct link was thus established between poor maternal nutrition and the development of key pathological mechanisms associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
An indirect link can also be seen in the predisposition to metabolic diseases. Indeed, metabolic diseases (obesity, diabetes) in adulthood are risk factors for the development of neurodegenerative diseases; and a maternal diet rich in fat and/or sugar favors the development of metabolic diseases in the offspring.
A better understanding of the impact of maternal diet will enable us to identify actions to be taken in this crucial period of the first 1,000 days of life to prevent the emergence of a environment favorable to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.
Contact
Maternal nutrition, Alzheimer's disease, nutritional programming, metabolic diseases, gut microbiota.