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Sloboda Lab: High-Fat, High-Sugar Diet Before Pregnancy Impacts Placental Health and Fetal Development

Sloboda Lab/LinkedIn

Nov 8, 2025, 17:58

Sloboda Lab: High-Fat, High-Sugar Diet Before Pregnancy Impacts Placental Health and Fetal Development

Deborah Sloboda, Professor at McMaster University, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“New paper alert!
Dr Christian Bellissimo, newly minted PhD graduate from the Sloboda Lab shows that when pregnancy begins in the context of excess adiposity, the placenta experiences lower oxygen and subtle tissue injury. Using a preconception high-fat, high-sucrose mouse model, we mapped placental oxygen levels and found:

Reduced placental oxygenation in both major placental zones • Localized calcification and inflammation
Altered immune and endocrine signals reaching the fetus
Sex-specific fetal inflammatory responses

These findings reinforce a key concept in early life programming: that the intrauterine environment is shaped long before implantation and it influences offspring health trajectories. So healthy pregnancy starts before conception.
So proud of my team for this collaborative work at the intersection of metabolism, placental biology, and developmental programming.
Published in Biology of Reproduction –> Check it out!”

Sloboda Lab