(P27-063-25) Effect of Early Life Exposure to Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements on Pubertal Hormones at 9–11 Years of Age

Objectives: Limited research suggests that providing small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) during the first 1,000 days may lead to advanced pubertal development in females aged 11-13. This study aimed to examine the effects of SQ-LNS on pubertal hormone concentrations.

Methods: This study is a follow-up to a partially double-blind randomized controlled trial that evaluated three nutrient supplements for pregnant women in eastern Ghana. A total of 1320 pregnant women ≤20 weeks recruited from 2009-2011 were assigned to receive daily iron and folic acid (IFA) during pregnancy and placebo 0–6 months postpartum; or multiple micronutrients (MMN) during pregnancy and 0–6 months postpartum; or SQ-LNS during pregnancy and 0–6 months postpartum and to their children from 6 to 18 mo. Follow-up assessments (2019-2020) analyzed hormone concentrations from hair samples of the offspring at 9-11 years of age. We compared SQ-LNS and non-LNS groups using ANOVA. Sensitivity analysis showed no significant differences between the IFA and MMN groups (P > 0.10), so they were combined into a single non-LNS group.

Results: 966 children participated; 650 hair samples (464-650 depending on hormone) were analyzed from these children in this follow-up study (436 from the non-LNS group and 214 from the LNS group). The average age of the children was 9.9 ± 0.5 y, with boys representing 48% of the population. The geometric mean hormone concentrations (95% CI) did not differ between the SQ-LNS and non-LNS groups for testosterone (SQ-LNS: 4.79 [3.15, 7.12] pg/mg; non-LNS: 4.94 [3.30, 6.89] pg/mg, P = 0.854), dehydroepiandrosterone (SQ-LNS: 43.67 [31.13, 62.17] pg/mg; non-LNS: 45.05 [33.69, 63.75] pg/mg, P = 0.337), and progesterone (SQ-LNS: 12.78 [8.50, 18.81] pg/mg; non-LNS: 13.10 [9.50, 17.30] pg/mg, P = 0.573). However, estradiol concentrations were lower in the SQ-LNS group 32.78 [22.4, 47.4] pg/g compared with the non-LNS group 37.29 [26.18, 51.38] pg/g, P = 0.050.

Conclusions: Although prior analyses showed that SQ-LNS promoted more advanced pubertal development in self-reports at 11-13 years, this was not evident in pubertal hormone concentrations taken from hair samples at 9-11 years. This is consistent with self-reports from ages 9-11, due to the earlier stage of reproductive development during early puberty.

Funding Sources: The National Institutes of Health