Beneficial Effects of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Gestational Diabetes: Consequences in Macrosomia and Adulthood Obesity

Figure 1

Effects of omega-3 PUFA diet on Th1 and Th2 dichotomy in animal diabetic pregnancy: implication in macrosomia. Naïve CD4⁺ T helper (Th0) cells can be differentiated into either Th1 cells, producing proinflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-12, and IFN-), or Th2 cells, secreting anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-10, IL-5, and IL-13). Human and animal studies show that, in normal pregnancy as well as in diabetic pregnancy, the Th1/Th2 balance is shifted towards a protective Th2 phenotype. Feeding omega-3 PUFA diet to rats, in normal pregnancy as well as in diabetic pregnancy, enhances the increase of Th2 cytokines. In contrast, the Th1/Th2 balance is shifted towards a proinflammatory Th1 phenotype in macrosomic newborns as well as in adult obese animals that were macrosomic as newborns and the omega-3 PUFA diet shifts the ratio to an anti-inflammatory Th2 phenotype in adult obese animals. Th: T helper cells; GDM: gestational diabetes mellitus; PUFA: polyunsaturated fatty acid; (+): upregulation; (−): downregulation. Data are from the studies carried out by Khan et al., J Autoimmun, 2006 [65].