Effects of Maternal Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Offspring Epigenetic Clock of Gestational Age at Birth: A Post-hoc Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Vitamin D could be beneficial for healthy ageing in humans. We previously found that vitamin D supplementation may slow down epigenetic ageing in young African American adults. We tested new epigenetic clocks developed for neonates among a multiethnic population, and tested the hypothesis that maternal vitamin D supplementation would slow down the epigenetic gestational age acceleration (GAA) in newborn babies. Ninety-two pregnant women (aged 29.6 ± 4.8 y; 21% African Americans, 28% Hispanics) were randomized to receive 4000 IU/day vitamin D₃ or placebo, plus prenatal vitamins containing 400 IU vitamin D₃ during pregnancy in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Cord blood genome-wide methylation analysis was performed on the Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC Beadchip. DNA methylation gestational age was calculated based on two calculations developed by Knight and Bohlin. DNA methylation gestational ages calculated by Knight's clock and Bohlin' clock were highly correlated with the gestational age in the placebo group (correlation coefficients = 0.88, p s< 0.001, respectively). GAA was associated with higher birth weight (p = 0.039). In the entire cohort, vitamin D₃ supplementation was not associated with GAA (p > 0.05). However, vitamin D₃ supplementation decreased GAA by both Knight's clock (β = -0.89, p = 0.047) and Bohlin's clock (β = -0.71, p = 0.005) in the African American participants. Maternal vitamin D₃ supplementation may slow down the epigenetic gestational ageing process in African American neonates. Long-term follow-up studies are warranted to determine the role of epigenetic age acceleration in the growth and development of offspring.

Keywords: DNA methylation; Maternal vitamin D3 supplementation; cholecalciferol; epigenetic clock; gestational age; multiethnic population; prenatal nutrition.

Figure 1.

Scatter plots of epigenetic gestational age and gestational age grouped by race and group.

Figure 2.

Flow diagram.