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Oxidized fish oil in rat pregnancy causes high newborn mortality and increases maternal insulin resistance

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Version 1 2016-10-20, 10:47
journal contribution
posted on 2016-09-01, 00:00 authored by B B Albert, M H Vickers, C Gray, C M Reynolds, S A Segovia, J G B Derraik, Paul Lewandowski, M L Garg, D Cameron-Smith, P L Hofman, W S Cutfield
Fish oil is commonly taken by pregnant women, and supplements sold at retail are often oxidized. Using a rat model, we aimed to assess the effects of supplementation with oxidized fish oil during pregnancy in mothers and offspring, focusing on newborn viability and maternal insulin sensitivity. Female rats were allocated to a control or high-fat diet and then mated. These rats were subsequently randomized to receive a daily gavage treatment of 1 ml of unoxidized fish oil, a highly oxidized fish oil, or control (water) throughout pregnancy. At birth, the gavage treatment was stopped, but the same maternal diets were fed ad libitum throughout lactation. Supplementation with oxidized fish oil during pregnancy had a marked adverse effect on newborn survival at day 2, leading to much greater odds of mortality than in the control (odds ratio 8.26) and unoxidized fish oil (odds ratio 13.70) groups. In addition, maternal intake of oxidized fish oil during pregnancy led to increased insulin resistance at the time of weaning (3 wks after exposure) compared with control dams (HOMA-IR 2.64 vs. 1.42; P = 0.044). These data show that the consumption of oxidized fish oil is harmful in rat pregnancy, with deleterious effects in both mothers and offspring.

History

Journal

American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology

Volume

311

Issue

3

Pagination

R497 - R504

Publisher

American Physiological Society

Location

Bethesda, Md.

ISSN

0363-6119

eISSN

1522-1490

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2016, the American Physiological Society