The Kids Aren’t Alright: Maternal Obesity Leaves a Sex-Specific Epigenetic Mark on the Offspring Heart
- 1Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
- 2Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Sarver Heart Center, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
Abstract
Obesity prevalence continues to rise worldwide, with 1/3 of children and 2/3 of adults forecasted to be living with obesity by 2050 (1).Obesity is associated with >20 nonoverlapping diseases across multiple organ systems, and people with obesity have up to 12 times increased risk of developing complex multimorbidity (2).The heritability of obesity is estimated to be 40-70% (3), though the degree to which the epigenome is modifiable through different exposures remains unresolved.The gestational environment represents one's first exposure following genetic recombination, a time of extreme growth and cell differentiation.Maternal obesity produces offspring with a phenotype characterized by obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and metabolic inflexibility (4).However, epigenetic programming resulting from maternal obesity has not been fully explored.The study by Wilson et al, (5) provides insight into the effects of maternal obesity on the epigenetic modifications in the offspring heart.
Related
- Maternal obesity accelerates cardiomyocyte maturation and programs adult heart dysfunction in offspring
- Maternal Obesity Induces DNA Methylation Changes in the Kidneys and Blood of Rodent Offspring at Adulthood
- Maternal Overweight/Obesity and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Status During Pregnancy Are Associated with Offspring Body Composition at 8.5 Years: Findings from the PREOBE Study
- Redefining success in assisted reproductive technologies: the Embryo-Maternal-Offspring Continuum Framework
- Maternal hyperglycemia impairs postnatal skeletal muscle growth and induces stage-dependent gene expression changes in mouse offspring
BibTeX
@article{tavoian2026kids,
title = {{The Kids Aren’t Alright: Maternal Obesity Leaves a Sex-Specific Epigenetic Mark on the Offspring Heart}},
author = {Dallin Tavoian and Sakthivel Sadayappan},
journal = {American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1152/ajpheart.90292.2026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.90292.2026},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The Kids Aren’t Alright: Maternal Obesity Leaves a Sex-Specific Epigenetic Mark on the Offspring Heart
AU - Dallin Tavoian
AU - Sakthivel Sadayappan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology
DO - 10.1152/ajpheart.90292.2026
UR - https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.90292.2026
AB - Obesity prevalence continues to rise worldwide, with 1/3 of children and 2/3 of adults forecasted to be living with obesity by 2050 (1).Obesity is associated with >20 nonoverlapping diseases across multiple organ systems, and people with obesity have up to 12 times increased risk of developing complex multimorbidity (2).The heritability of obesity is estimated to be 40-70% (3), though the degree to which the epigenome is modifiable through different exposures remains unresolved.The gestational environment represents one's first exposure following genetic recombination, a time of extreme growth and cell differentiation.Maternal obesity produces offspring with a phenotype characterized by obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and metabolic inflexibility (4).However, epigenetic programming resulting from maternal obesity has not been fully explored.The study by Wilson et al, (5) provides insight into the effects of maternal obesity on the epigenetic modifications in the offspring heart.
SN - 0363-6135
SN - 1522-1539
ER -