Effects of exposure to a cafeteria diet during gestation and after weaning on the metabolism and body weight of adult male offspring in rats

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated whether maternal exposure to a cafeteria diet affects the metabolism and body composition of offspring and whether such an exposure has a cumulative effect during the lifetime of the offspring. Female rats were fed a control (CON) or a cafeteria (CAF) diet from their own weaning to the weaning of their offspring. At 21 d of age, male offspring were divided into four groups by diet during gestation and after weaning (CON-CON, CON-CAF, CAF-CON and CAF-CAF). Blood was collected from dams (after weaning) and pups (at 30 and 120 d of age) by decapitation. CAF dams had significantly greater body weight and adipose tissue weight and higher concentrations of total cholesterol, insulin and leptin than CON dams (Student's t test). The energy intake of CAF rats was higher than that of CON rats regardless of the maternal diet (two-way ANOVA). Litters had similar body weights at weaning and at 30 d of age, but at 120 d, CON-CAF rats were heavier. At both ages, CAF rats had greater adipose tissue weight than CON rats regardless of the maternal diet, and the concentrations of TAG and cholesterol were similar between the two groups, as were blood glucose concentrations at 30 d of age. However, at 120 d of age, CAF rats were hyperglycaemic, hyperinsulinaemic and hyperleptinaemic regardless of the maternal diet. These findings suggest that maternal obesity does not modulate the metabolism of male offspring independently, modifying body weight only when associated with the intake of a cafeteria diet by the offspring.

Effects of maternal taurine supplementation on maternal dietary intake, plasma metabolites and fetal growth and development in cafeteria diet fed rats

“…Many studies have attempted to investigate the influence of maternal cafeteria diet on plasma glucose, insulin, triglyceride and total cholesterol levels. Some have found no differences in glucose and insulin ( Crew, Waddell & Mark, 2016 ; Crew et al, 2018 ), triglyceride ( Mucellini et al, 2014 ) and total cholesterol ( Jacobs et al, 2014 ) concentrations as observed in the present study, while others have reported higher glucose and insulin ( Holemans et al, 2004 ; Bouanane et al, 2009 ) cholesterol ( Mucellini et al, 2014 ) and triglyceride ( Chen et al, 2008 ) concentrations in cafeteria fed dams. The above-cited studies have some differences in the duration and timing of intervention.…”

Mothers’ cafeteria diet induced sex-specific changes in fat content, metabolic profiles, and inflammation outcomes in rat offspring

“…It consists of a variety of products, which are characterized by good taste with high energy density with about 45–55% of the energy coming from fats 3 – 5 . Among the commonly used ingredients in this diet there are: biscuits, potato chips, peanut butter, chocolate, chocolate bars, cheese, sausage, jam, muffins, cakes, dried fruit 3 , 5 , 6 . CAF diet very well mimics “fast-food meals” popular among people 7 .…”

From fatalism to mitigation: A conceptual framework for mitigating fetal programming of chronic disease by maternal obesity

“…In six studies, maternal high fat diet protected against the adverse effects of a postnatal Western-type diet with regard to weight gain (Couvreur et al, 2011; Ferezou-Viala et al, 2007; Howie et al, 2009; Mucellini et al, 2014), insulin sensitivity (Ferezou-Viala et al, 2007; Mucellini et al, 2014), lipid levels (Shankar et al, 2008), or blood pressure (Elahi et al, 2009). The potential explanations for these unexpected findings include impacts of maternal obesity on energy homeostasis regulated by the liver and the hypothalamus (Brenseke et al, 2015; Couvreur et al, 2011); nevertheless these studies may be regarded as outliers with no known explanation.…”