(P37-45-26) The Effects of a Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplement Intervention on Blood DNA Methylation in Bangladesh: Insights From the Rang-Din Nutrition Study

Monday, July 27, 2026

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM ET

Location: Poster Board C-97

Presenting Author(s)

Hannah D. Waldman, BSc (she/her/hers)

Master's Student
University of British Columbia & BC Children's Hospital Research Institute
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Co-Author(s)

CK

Chaini Konwar, PhD

British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute & University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
BZ

Beryl C. Zhuang, MSc

British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute & University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
MJ

Marcia S. Jude, MSc

British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute & University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
SM

Sarah M. Merrill, PhD

University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts, United States
JM

Julia L. MacIsaac, PhD

British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute & University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
MM

Malay K. Mridha, MBBS, MSc, MPH, PhD

Associate Professor
Centre for Non-Communicable Diseases and Nutrition, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University
Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
CA

Charles D. Arnold, MS

Statistician
University of California, Davis
Davis, California, United States
Kathryn G. Dewey, PhD (she/her/hers)

Distinguished Professor Emerita
University of California, Davis
Davis, California, United States
MK

Michael S. Kobor, PhD

British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute & University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada

Disclosure(s):

Hannah D. Waldman, BSc: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Kathryn G. Dewey, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) provide micro- and macronutrients known to influence DNA methylation (DNAm); thus, we hypothesized that DNAm profiles may reflect unique early-life SQ-LNS exposure. We assessed whether an SQ-LNS intervention during the first 1,000 days of life affects the blood DNA methylome in children in Bangladesh and whether intervention-associated DNAm at sex-associated regions differed by child sex.

Methods: We analyzed dried blood spot samples from a DNAm-profiled subset of the Rang-Din Nutrition Study (n = 194, age = 40–52 mo), a cluster randomized controlled effectiveness trial comparing maternal (prenatal + 6 mo postpartum) + child SQ-LNS (6–24 mo old; Comprehensive LNS), child only SQ-LNS (Child LNS), and no SQ-LNS. Genome-wide DNAm data was analyzed at co-methylated regions (CMRs; n = 49,745) and individual CpGs absent from CMRs (n = 265,497). Linear mixed effect models tested for intervention-associated DNAm differences at both aggregate (mean across CMRs and individual CpGs) and individual locus levels. Given the small sample size, sex-stratified analyses were restricted to previously identified sex CMRs (sCMRs; n = 179).

Results: Small but significant aggregate-level DNAm differences were observed across SQ-LNS intervention groups (F = 4.804, p = 0.012), driven by the lowest mean DNAm in the Child LNS group and highest in the Comprehensive LNS group (Tukey T = -3.013, p = 0.011). Epigenome-wide association analyses identified no CMRs nor individual CpGs surviving multiple-test correction (lowest q = 0.859, nominal p = 1.36e-05). While the aggregate-level DNAm in sCMRs differed significantly by intervention group in both sexes (p ≤ 0.024), the pairwise intervention group comparisons driving these effects differed by sex. The difference in sCMR DNAm was significantly different between sexes for 2/3 comparisons (p ≤ 3.41e-12), congruent only in the Child LNS vs. Comprehensive LNS comparison.

Conclusions: While SQ-LNS did not induce large, loci-specific DNAm changes, intervention-specific trends in DNAm at the aggregate-level were observed. Further, child’s sex influenced some of the intervention-associated DNAm differences at sCMRs. Results suggest potential DNAm sensitivity to timing and concordance of an early-life nutrition intervention.

Funding Sources: Social Exposome Cluster