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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #236144
Title: Maternal exposure to diets containing high fructose and saturated fats, low B vitamins, or their combination programs growth, adiposity, and insulin sensitivity in adult offspring

Author
item CHEN, C-Y OLIVER - JM USDA HNRCA @ TUFTS
item CROTT, JIMMY - JM USDA HNRCA @ TUFTS
item LIU, ZHENHUA - JM USDA HNRCA @ TUFTS
item Smith, Donald

Submitted to: Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/11/2008
Publication Date: 4/18/2009
Citation: Chen, C., Crott, J., Liu, Z., Smith, D. 2009. Maternal exposure to diets containing high fructose and saturated fats, low B vitamins, or their combination programs growth, adiposity, and insulin sensitivity in adult offspring. Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Abstract No. 219.6.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Early exposure to unfavorable nutrition programs increases risk of adult-onset diseases. In this rat study, we investigate morphological, metabolic and endocrinal phenotypes of offspring born to dams consuming isocaloric diets containing 30% fructose, 9.9% coconut fat and 0.5% cholesterol (F+SFA), mild deficiencies of four B vitamins (VBD), or their combination (F+SFA+VBD) for 4 wk before conception and during gestation and nursing. After weaning, all offspring were rehabilitated with the control diet (C) containing 30% glucose, 11% corn oil, and optimal vitamins for 12 wk. The VBD and F+SFA+VBD diets caused intrauterine growth retardation. The VBD offspring underwent a period of catch-up growth and had the largest body weight (BW) at age of 15 wk while the F+SFA+VBD male offspring only were stunted. The F+SFA and F+SFA+VBD led to at least 44% smaller BW-adjusted retroperitoneal fat depots in male offspring. Further, the F+SFA male offspring had 64% larger fasted plasma insulin and the VBD male offspring had 2.6-fold larger plasma testosterone than the C. Our results illustrate that nutrition in early life may have great impacts on growth trajectory, adiposity, and hormonal status in adulthood in a sex dependent manner. However, mechanistic mechanisms underlying this nutrient programming remain to be investigated. The study was sponsored by the USDA ARS under Cooperative Agreement.