High Folic Acid Intake during Pregnancy Lowers Body Weight and Reduces Femoral Area and Strength in Female Rat Offspring

Table 2

Measurements of femur morphology, bone mineral, and biomechanical strength properties from female offspring at 17 weeks after weaning¹.

Variables	Treatment groups				𝑃 value
	RFol-RFol	HFol-RFol	RFol-HFol	HFol-HFol	Dam diet	Pup diet	Dam diet × pup diet
Whole femur
Length (mm)
Unadjusted	36.14 ± 0.17^ab	35.88 ± 0.12^ab	36.51 ± 0.21^a	35.53 ± 0.35^b	0.02	NS	NS
Adjusted*	36.03 ± 0.23	35.99 ± 0.20	36.43 ± 0.23	35.62 ± 0.21	0.08	NS	NS
AP width (mm)
Unadjusted	3.20 ± 0.04	3.08 ± 0.05	3.09 ± 0.05	3.11 ± 0.09	NS	NS	NS
Adjusted*	3.18 ± 0.06	3.11 ± 0.06	3.07 ± 0.06	3.13 ± 0.06	NS	NS	NS
ML width (mm)
Unadjusted	4.27 ± 0.05	4.10 ± 0.09	4.09 ± 0.09	4.04 ± 0.08	NS	NS	NS
Adjusted*	4.28 ± 0.08	4.11 ± 0.08	4.09 ± 0.08	4.04 ± 0.07	NS	NS	NS
Femoral head (mm)
Unadjusted	4.08 ± 0.03	3.96 ± 0.04	4.07 ± 0.03	3.97 ± 0.07	0.03	NS	NS
Adjusted*	4.06 ± 0.05	3.98 ± 0.05	4.06 ± 0.05	3.99 ± 0.05	NS	NS	NS
Femoral neck (mm)
Unadjusted	2.05 ± 0.04	1.97 ± 0.04	2.04 ± 0.03	1.93 ± 0.06	0.04	NS	NS
Adjusted*	2.03 ± 0.04	1.99 ± 0.04	2.02 ± 0.04	1.94 ± 0.04	NS	NS	NS
Knee joint (mm)
Unadjusted	6.69 ± 0.04	6.54 ± 0.06	6.66 ± 0.04	6.53 ± 0.07	0.01	NS	NS
Adjusted*	6.67 ± 0.05	6.56 ± 0.05	6.64 ± 0.05	6.54 ± 0.05	0.07	NS	NS
Weight (g)
Unadjusted	1.046 ± 0.026^a	1.000 ± 0.031^ab	1.038 ± 0.024^ab	0.953 ± 0.037^b	0.04	NS	NS
Adjusted*	1.035 ± 0.029	1.011 ± 0.030	1.029 ± 0.030	0.961 ± 0.028	NS	NS	NS
Bone area (cm^2)
Unadjusted	2.045 ± 0.010^a	1.958 ± 0.045^ab	1.993 ± 0.021^ab	1.882 ± 0.041^b	0.002	0.06	NS
Adjusted**	2.025 ± 0.018^a	1.933 ± 0.018^b	1.944 ± 0.018^b	1.950 ± 0.017^b	0.03	0.08	0.01
BMC (g)
Unadjusted	0.487 ± 0.007	0.460 ± 0.008	0.463 ± 0.009	0.435 ± 0.017	0.08	NS	NS
Adjusted**	0.473 ± 0.010	0.453 ± 0.010	0.445 ± 0.010	0.460 ± 0.010	NS	NS	0.09
BMD (g/cm^2)
Unadjusted	0.236 ± 0.004	0.229 ± 0.002	0.232 ± 0.003	0.230 ± 0.005	NS	NS	NS
Adjusted*	0.235 ± 0.004	0.233 ± 0.004	0.231 ± 0.004	0.233 ± 0.004	NS	NS	NS
Femur midpoint
Peak load (N)
Unadjusted	145.06 ± 3.62	132.63 ± 2.79	135.67 ± 3.23	137.15 ± 5.96	NS	NS	0.10
Adjusted**	142.53 ± 3.48	134.73 ± 3.68	130.42 ± 3.27	142.19 ± 3.45	NS	NS	0.01
Stiffness (N/mm)
Unadjusted	396.92 ± 14.88	354.50 ± 6.92	357.57 ± 5.85	372.23 ± 14.67	NS	NS	0.02
Adjusted**	390.43 ± 10.46^a	359.88 ± 10.42^ab	344.29 ± 10.31^b	385.03 ± 9.79^a	NS	NS	0.002

1Data are means ± (SEM); 𝑁=9-10/group. Data were analyzed by 2-way ANOVA (dam diet and pup diet as main factors) followed by post hoc Tukey’s test. Means with different superscripts in a row are significantly different, 𝑃<0.05.
*Adjusted for body weight.
**Adjusted for body weight and femoral length.