Supplementation of Methyl-Donor Nutrients to a High-Fat, High-Sucrose Diet during Pregnancy and Lactation Normalizes Circulating 25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol Levels and Alleviates Inflammation in Offspring

A Western-style diet that is high in fat and sucrose has been shown to alter DNA methylation and epigenetically modify genes related to health risk in offspring. Here, we investigated the effect of a methyl-donor nutrient (MS) supplemented to a high-fat, high-sucrose (HFS) diet during pregnancy and lactation on vitamin D (VD) status and inflammatory response in offspring. After mating, 10-week-old female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (n = 10/group) were randomly assigned to one of the four dietary groups during pregnancy and lactation: (1) control diet (CON), (2) CON with MS (CON-MS), (3) HFS, and (4) HFS with MS (HFS-MS). Weanling offspring (three weeks old) were euthanized and sacrificed (n = 8–10/sex/group). The remaining offspring (n = 10/sex/group) were randomly assigned to either a CON or an HFS diet for 12 weeks and sacrificed at 15 weeks of age. Our results indicated that prenatal MS supplementation, but not postnatal diet, restored low vitamin D status and suppressed elevation of proinflammatory cytokine induced by maternal HFS in the offspring. Furthermore, both prenatal and postnatal diets modulated the abundance of Lactobacillus spp. and Bacteroides spp. in the offspring, a shift that was independent of vitamin D status. Collectively, our data support a role for MS in restoring the perturbation of VD status and normalizing maternal HFS-induced inflammation in the offspring. Further investigation is warranted to elucidate the methylation status of VD metabolism-related pathways in the offspring, as well as the immunomodulatory role of vitamin D during the progression of obesity.