Mid-pregnancy metabolites linked to distinct infant growth paths

Analysis of 1,423 mother-child pairs suggests that lipoproteins and other metabolites measured in mid-pregnancy may help distinguish how children grow during their first three years.

Researchers have identified distinct patterns of infant growth that appear to be linked to a mother’s metabolic profile in mid-pregnancy, according to a study in Nature based on the Born in Bradford cohort. The analysis followed 1,423 mother-child pairs and tracked weight, length or height, and body mass index across the first three years of life. By measuring 147 metabolites in maternal fasting blood taken at 26 to 28 weeks’ gestation, the researchers sought to understand whether pregnancy biochemistry could help explain why some children grow along different trajectories from birth to 36 months.

The study found three broad growth pathways for each measure: a typical pattern, an intermediate pattern, and a third, less uniform route marked either by faster gains in weight and BMI or by slower linear growth. Using statistical methods to compare metabolite profiles across these groups, the researchers said they needed between 30 and 41 metabolites to distinguish one trajectory from another, with lipoprotein subclasses emerging as especially important. In all, 14 lipoprotein subclasses were required across the three measures, alongside additional metabolites that helped separate one or two of the growth patterns.

The paper also reported that many of these metabolic signals were associated with changes in z-scores for weight, height and BMI, and that the findings held up within each trajectory group. According to the authors, South Asian ethnicity and gestational diabetes were both associated with lower growth scores across the measures examined. That finding is notable in Bradford, where the Born in Bradford cohort was designed to capture the health of a multi-ethnic population and to study how pregnancy and early-life exposures shape later outcomes.

The results add to a growing body of research suggesting that the maternal metabolome may offer clues to early childhood development. The Born in Bradford team has previously highlighted the breadth of its metabolomic data resources, which include pregnancy samples, cord blood and early-life measures, while other studies from the cohort have examined how gestational diabetes treatment relates to later growth and whether early-pregnancy metabolic patterns predict growth acceleration or slowing. Taken together, the research suggests that the timing of metabolic change in pregnancy, not just its presence, may matter for a child’s early growth.