A Mother´s High-Fat Diet Can Lead to Liver Stress in the Fetus

When mothers eat a high-fat, high-sugar diet, their unborn babies can experience liver stress that continues into early life. A new study published in the journal “Liver International” highlights fetal bile acid changes that affect the development and progression of liver disease.

How a High-Fat Diet During Pregnancy Can Cause Liver Problems in Children

Previous research suggests that mothers who eat a high-fat, high-sugar diet can predispose several generations to metabolic problems, even if their offspring eat a healthy diet. In fact, obesity in women even before pregnancy can cause genetic abnormalities that are subsequently passed down the female bloodline for at least three generations, increasing the risk of obesity-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Bile acids normally help digestion, absorbing dietary fats in the small intestine. However, when they reach excessively high levels, they become toxic and can damage the liver. While the mother can detoxify the acids, the fetus lacks this ability. Bile acids can be recycled back into the mother’s body for detoxification, but if they are not, they accumulate in the fetal liver, setting the stage for future problems. The results suggest that early exposure to excess bile acids in the womb may be an important factor in the early development of steatohepatitis associated with metabolic dysfunction (MASLD), a condition that affects up to 30% of adolescents.

Mothers Should Eat Healthy

“This is a major public health issue because we know that mothers with obesity or poor nutrition can predispose the next generation to obesity, diabetes and other metabolic diseases while they are still in the womb, creating a vicious cycle from mother to child,” said Jed Friedman, Ph.D., associate vice provost for diabetes programs at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences and director of the OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center. Friedman was co-senior author of the study with Dr. Stephanie Wesolowski of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

When the offspring studied were still pups, they already had liver damage, including increased amounts of a protein called collagen, which is associated with fibrosis (a buildup of scar tissue), and activated liver cells, which are involved in fibrosis. The high-fat diet also led to changes in the way some liver genes functioned, particularly those related to bile acid processing. These changes persisted regardless of what the offspring ate after weaning. In addition, offspring whose mothers were fed a high-fat diet had more bile duct cells (cells that drain bile from the liver), suggesting that the liver was trying to compensate for the damage.

“This study provides evidence that MASLD begins in utero and is influenced, at least in part, by the mother’s high-fat diet,” Friedman said. The discovery of elevated bile acid levels in fetuses may provide insights into the early stages of MASLD and its progression before it worsens. A mother’s diet during pregnancy plays an important role in her baby’s future health. By choosing healthy foods, mothers can help reduce their child’s risk of developing metabolic diseases like MASLD later in life.