Nutritional programming of physical development and bone growth of offspring by a maternal high-fat diet

Abstract

Objective: Investigate the influence of a maternal extended high-fat diet (HFD) consumption, an animal model for the human Western diet pattern, combined to preconceptional obesity on offspring development and growth. Methods: Female Wistar rats were subjected to HFD (52% energy from fat - primarily sourced from lard) or a control diet (12% energy from fat) from 37 days of life until the end of lactation. The dams in the HFD group were obese at the time of mating. Post-weaning, all offspring consumed a standardized diet. Somatic growth, physical maturation, neurobehavioral assessments, locomotor performance, and linear cephalometric measurements of the mandible (anteroposterior and alveolar lengths) and skull (diastema and alveolar lengths) were evaluated in both groups of offspring. Results: The offspring in the HFD group exhibited prolonged latency in the negative geotaxis reflex, lateness mandibular incisive eruption, and notable reductions in somatic growth and all linear cephalometric measurements when compared to the control group. Conclusion: The long-lasting maternal HFD exposition and preconceptional obesity leads to a delay in offspring physical development and bone growth.