title: Early programming of weight gain in mice prevents the induction of obesity by a highly palatable diet.
abstract: Poor early growth is associated with Type II diabetes, hypertension and other features of the metabolic syndrome in adulthood. It has been suggested that this results from the development of a thrifty phenotype by a malnourished fetus. Such a phenotype would predispose the offspring to the development of obesity if born into conditions of over-nutrition. The present study aimed to determine if early nutrition affected subsequent development of obesity. Mice were established as follows: (a) controls (offspring of control dams), (b) recuperated (offspring of dams fed a low-protein diet during pregnancy, but nursed by control dams) and (c) postnatal low-protein (offspring of control dams nursed by low-protein-fed dams). Mice were weaned on to standard laboratory chow or a cafeteria diet. Recuperated offspring, although smaller at birth ( P <0.01), caught up and exceeded the weight of control offspring by 7 days of age ( P <0.001). Postnatal low-protein offspring were smaller than controls by 7 days of age ( P <0.001). Recuperated animals gained more weight than controls when given free access to a highly palatable diet ( P <0.01). Postnatal low-protein animals showed no additional weight gain when given a highly palatable diet compared with chow-fed litter-mates. These results suggest that the early environment has long-term consequences for weight gain. These programmed responses are powerful enough to block excess weight gain from a highly palatable diet and, thus, have major implications for the drug-free regulation of food intake and obesity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation; D008297:Male; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D023421:Models, Animal; D009765:Obesity / Q000196:embryology* / Q000209:etiology; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins