Maternal Choline Supplementation Supports Resistance to Effects of Prolonged Western Diet Feeding in Mice Offspring

This study investigated whether maternal choline supplementation (MCS) could reduce the chronic metabolic stress that is induced by prenatal maternal obesity and postnatal Western Diet (WD) feeding. C57BL/6 dams were either fed a normal fat (NF, 10 kcal %fat) control diet or a high fat (HF, 45 kcal % fat) diet prior to, during pregnancy and during lactation. These dams received either 25 mM choline or plain drinking water. After weaning, offspring were fed the WD diet (45 kcal %fat, 34 kcal %fructose, and 0.25% cholesterol) for 16 weeks before glucose tolerance testing and dissection. After 16 weeks of WD feeding, offspring from normal-fat, choline supplemented fed (MCS-NF) dams are protected from weight gain compared to offspring from dams fed a high-fat diet with or without choline supplementation (MCS-HF or MCO-HF)(P < 0.043). Male offspring from MCS-NF fed dams have reduced caloric intake (P < 0.019) and reduced gene expression of Acc1 which mediates liver de novo fatty acid synthesis (P = 0.005) compared to the non-supplemented normal-fat dams (MCO-NF) after 16 weeks of WD feeding. Female offspring from MCS-HF fed dams have lower fasting glucose levels compared to MCO-HF fed dams after 16 weeks of WD feeding (P = 0.034). MCS mitigates some pathological hallmarks that are induced by prolonged WD feeding in offspring. NIGMS.