The Impacts of Fish Oil and/or Probiotic Intervention on Low-Grade Inflammation, IGFBP-1 and MMP-8 in Pregnancy: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: We investigated the impact of fish oil and/or probiotics on serum and vaginal inflammatory and metabolic proteins and their relation to the onset of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods: Overweight/obese pregnant women received fish oil + placebo, probiotics + placebo, fish oil + probiotics or placebo + placebo from early pregnancy until six months postpartum (fish oil: 1.9 g docosahexaenoic acid and 0.22 g eicosapentaenoic acid; probiotics: Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 and Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis 420, 10¹⁰ colony-forming units each). Serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and serum/vaginal (s/v) phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding-protein-1 (phIGFBP-1), IGFBP-1 and matrix metalloproteinase 8 (MMP-8) were analyzed. GDM was diagnosed according to 2 h 75 g OGTT. Results: The intervention had no impact on the change in proteins during pregnancy. Nevertheless, s-MMP-8 decreased and s-IGFBP-1 increased more in obese than in overweight women in the fish oil + probiotics group, while a decrease in s-MMP-8 was seen in obese women and an increase was seen in overweight women in the probiotics + placebo group. The late pregnancy s-phIGFBP-1 was higher in women who developed GDM in fish oil + probiotics-group compared to fish oil + placebo-group. The concentrations of s-phIGFBP-1 (635.9 ± 315.3 ng/mL vs. 753.2 ± 335.1 ng/mL, p = 0.005) and s-IGFBP-1 (3.78 ± 0.72 ng/mL vs. 3.96 ± 0.69 ng/mL, p = 0.042) were lower in early pregnancy in women who developed GDM than in women remaining healthy. Conclusions: The intervention per se had no impact on the proteins, but obesity and GDM may modify the effect. IGFBPs may affect the development of GDM.