Early life lipid profile and metabolic programming in very young children

•Lipid derangements during early postnatal life may induce stable epigenetic changes.•Total cholesterol in young children is associated with decreased TNFα methylation.•HDL-cholesterol is associated with decreased methylation of both TNFα and leptin.•Maternal HDL-cholesterol is associated with lower methylation of TNFα in the child.•Altered epigenetic metabolic programming may affect cardiometabolic risk.

Background and aimsLipid derangements during early postnatal life may induce stable epigenetic changes and alter metabolic programming. We investigated associations between serum lipid profiles in very young children and DNA methylation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and leptin (LEP). Secondly, we explored if the maternal serum lipid profile modifies DNA methylation in the child.Methods and resultsIn 120 healthy children at 17 months of age, DNA methylation of TNFα and LEP was measured in DNA derived from whole blood. Linear mixed models were used to calculate exposure-specific differences and associations. Total cholesterol in children was associated with decreased methylation of TNFα (−5.8%, p = 0.036), and HDL-cholesterol was associated with decreased methylation of both TNFα (−6.9%, p = 0.013) and LEP (−3.4%, p = 0.021). Additional adjustment for gestational age at birth, birth weight, sex, breastfeeding and educational level attenuated the effects, TNFα (−6.1%, p = 0.058) and LEP (−3.1%, p = 0.041). In mothers, HDL-cholesterol only was associated with decreased methylation of TNFα in the child (−8.7%, p = 0.001).ConclusionOur data support the developmental origin of health and disease hypothesis by showing that total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol levels in very young children are associated with epigenetic metabolic programming, which may affect their vulnerability for developing cardiovascular diseases in later life.