Research is showing that a woman’s diet during pregnancy can affect her offspring’s risk for adult diseases, including diabetes and cancer. Deficiencies of certain vitamins and minerals can alter the child’s DNA expression, triggering illnesses later in life.

Cheryl Rosenfeld, DVM, Ph.D., and assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, is looking to determine the specific mechanisms that start nutrition-related embryonic changes in DNA expression by using mice as a human model. With her results, her goal is to identify specific nutritional guidance for pregnant women to give their children the best chance at a healthy life.

In her research, she has found that certain laboratory mice, such as viable yellow mice, are prone to developing obesity, cancer, and increased mortality compared to their brown or tiger-striped siblings, which are healthy.

She and others have found that supplementing the maternal diet (who are pregnant with disease-prone offspring) with certain B vitamins or genistein results in protection of the offspring from developing certain diseases later in life.

This research has significance to humans, as we are increasingly consuming soy phytoestrogens and supplementing our diets with vitamin B. Additionally, many infant-based formulas are soy-based. The potential of these dietary supplements to protect against various diseases in humans is still in its infancy. However, these supplements may hold great promise in preventing and treating various cancers and other disorders.

An interesting byproduct of the research that Dr. Rosenfeld noted is a change in the coat color of the mice. When a maternal yellow mouse diet is supplemented with either various B vitamins or genistein, her offspring's coat color is either brown or pseudoagouti, a tiger-stripe color.

Dr. Rosenfeld’s research emphasis is on reproductive physiology.

Previously, Dr. Rosenfeld has studied the effects that maternal diet has on offspring sex ratio. Her work showed that there is evidence that in several mammals, including humans, mothers on restricted calorie intake produce daughters more frequently than sons. In contrast, high fat maternal diets seem to favor sons.

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