Metabolomic Signatures of Low and High Adiposity Neonates Differ based on Maternal BMI

Variation in neonatal adiposity within maternal BMI groups is underappreciated, and it remains unclear whether the metabolic impairments at birth are an outcome of maternal obesity or excess fetal fat accrual. We examined the hypothesis that CB metabolites associated with fetal fat accrual differ between offspring of normal weight and obese women. Umbilical venous blood was collected at the time of scheduled cesarean delivery from 50 normal weight women (LE; pre-gravid BMI=22.3±1.7 kg/m2), and 50 (OB; BMI=34.5±3.0 kg/m2) women with obesity. Neonatal adiposity was estimated from flank skinfold thickness. The first (low adiposity, LA) and third (high adiposity, HA) tertiles of neonatal %body fat were used to create four groups: OBLA, OBHA, LELA, LEHA. CB metabolites were measured via untargeted metabolomics.