(PTFS04-03-26) Maternal Dietary Exposures During Pregnancy Are Associated With Gestational Age Acceleration in Umbilical Cord Blood at Birth: The Healthy Start Study

Sunday, July 26, 2026

8:08 AM - 8:12 AM ET

Location: Prince George's Hall B-E (The Hub) - Poster Theater 1 / Poster Board Number: PT1-3

Presenting Author(s)

Evaniya Shakya, PhD (she/her/hers)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Oklahoma Health Campus
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Co-Author(s)

FH

Finterly Hu

University of Oklahoma Health Campus
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
SN

Sierra Niemiec, MS

University of Colorado School of Public Health
Aurora, Colorado, United States
KK

Katerina Kechris, PhD

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States
CW

Cheyret Wood

University of Colorado School of Public Health
Aurora, Colorado, United States
ED

Elizabeth J. Davidson

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States
IY

Ivana V. Yang, PhD

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States
WP

Wei Perng, PhD

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States
CK

Catherine Kim

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
AS

Anne P. Starling, PhD

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
DD

Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD

Conrad M. Riley Endowed Professor of Epidemiology, Professor of Pediatrics, and Director of the Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center)
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States
SB

Sarah J. Borengasser, PhD, MS

Associate Professor
University of Oklahoma Health Campus
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

Disclosure(s):

Evaniya Shakya, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Sarah J. Borengasser, PhD, MS: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: To determine whether maternal diet-related exposures during pregnancy are associated with gestational age acceleration (GAA) in offspring at birth.

Methods: We used data from a subset of 483 mother-infant dyads from the Healthy Start study (births 2010-2014). Umbilical cord blood DNA methylation measured from Illumina 450K array was used to calculate the Knight, Bohlin, and Horvath skin & blood epigenetic clocks. GAA was measured as the residual from regressing the clock-estimated epigenetic age on infant’s chronological age. Multiple 24-hour Dietary Recalls (ASA24) and a Food Propensity Questionnaire were completed during pregnancy. Dietary exposures were total and individual components of the healthy eating index 2015 (HEI-2015), dietary inflammatory index, vitamin D intake (mcg), total saturated fat (SF) intake (g), total monounsaturated fat intake (g), total polyunsaturated fat intake (g), and gestational weight gain category based on IOM guidelines. HEI-2015 fatty acid score was categorized into tertiles, with the higher tertiles reflecting higher unsaturated to SF intake. Multivariable linear regressions were used to estimate associations between each diet-related exposure and GAA. The models were adjusted for maternal age, maternal education, race and ethnicity, prepregnancy body mass index, parity, infant sex, smoking during pregnancy, and estimated proportions of 6 cell types in cord blood.

Results: Using the skin & blood clock, mean SF intake was positively associated with GAA (β: 0.001, 95% CI: 0.000 to 0.002; p: 0.038), whereas HEI-2015 total fruit score (β: -0.010, 95% CI: -0.019 to -0.001; p: 0.032) and fatty acid score (β: -0.004, 95% CI: -0.008 to 0.000; p: 0.046) were negatively associated with GAA. Compared with the lowest tertile of the HEI-2015 fatty acid score, the middle tertile was associated with lower Knight clock GAA (β: -0.259, 95% CI: -0.459 to -0.060; p: 0.011), whereas the highest tertile showed no significant association (β: -0.086, 95% CI: -0.289 to 0.116; p: 0.404).

Conclusions: Lower SF intake and higher fruit intake during pregnancy are associated with lower GAA at birth. Further studies are needed to understand whether maternal diet quality alters offspring DNA methylation and enriched pathways, and whether lower GAA at birth is beneficial to childhood health outcomes.

Funding Sources: National Institute of Health