Maternal prebiotic supplementation exacerbates colitis development in offspring mice

Maternal diet plays a key role in preventing or contributing to the development of chronic diseases such as obesity, allergy or brain disorders. The supplementation of maternal diet with prebiotic has been shown to reduce the risk of food allergies and to impact the intestinal permeability in offspring later in life, but its ability to modulate the development of other intestinal disorders such as colitis remains currently unknown. Here, we therefore investigated the effects of prebiotic supplementation of pregnant mice on colitis occurrence in their offspring.