The effect of maternal and post-weaning low and high glycaemic index diets on glucose tolerance, fat deposition and hepatic function in rat offspring

Abstract

24Clinical studies have reported beneficial effects of a maternal low glycaemic index (GI) diet 25 on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes, but the impact of the diet on the offspring in later life, 26 and the mechanisms underlying these effects, remain unclear. In this study, Albino Wistar rats 27 were fed either a low GI (n=14) or high GI (n=14) diet during pregnancy and lactation and their 28 offspring weaned onto either the low or high GI diet. Low GI dams had better glucose tolerance offspring, but the male low GI offspring did have reduced hepatic lipid content at weaning. 36These findings suggest that consuming a low GI diet during pregnancy and lactation can 37 improve glucose tolerance and reduce visceral adiposity in the female offspring at weaning, 38 and may potentially produce long-term reductions in the hepatic lipogenic capacity of these 39 offspring. 40

Metabolic Effects of High Glycaemic Index Diets: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Feeding Studies in Mice and Rats

“…The systematic search procedure with the number of articles included and excluded at each point is depicted in Figure 1 . The end result was 30 articles, with 15 [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] involving mice, 13 [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ] involving rats and two [ 56 , 57 ] with experiments performed on both species. Of the articles that contained pertinent results, all contained information regarding the change or comparison of body weight or fat, and most examined some measure of glucose homeostasis.…”

“…The average score, out of 22, for each species was 13.3 and 12.2, respectively, to one decimal place. There was a small amount of variation in the quality of the articles, with the vast majority having a score between 11 and 16, inclusive [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ], and a lowest score of 8 [ 38 ] and highest of 18 [ 31 ].…”

“…In humans, ten subjects are tested in a cross-over design where they consume the tested meal over 12 min, have their blood glucose tested over the following 2 h, and the AUC compared to an identical test with glucose matched for the amount of carbohydrate in the meal by weight [ 60 ]. Three studies examined GI in vitro [ 34 , 45 , 54 ], which has been shown to be similar to GI measured in vivo in humans [ 6 ]. Of these three, one [ 34 ] used a reference food of white bread to calculate an approximate GI, another [ 45 ] also conducted a meal tolerance test, and the last [ 54 ] performed an additional in vivo GI test in rats, but did not state the methodology.…”

The impact of periconceptional alcohol exposure on fat preference and gene expression in the mesolimbic reward pathway in adult rat offspring

“…12 We have also previously reported that PC:EtOH causes fetal growth restriction 25 and postnatal catch up growth 12 both of which have been associated with increased fat deposition and risk of obesity in many previous studies. [26][27][28] However, a gold standard measurement such as dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry would be needed to confirm these findings. As our rats were studied at quite an advanced age it is important to note that differential fat deposition could have occurred during other periods of development and adulthood that we did not investigate.…”

The effect of periconceptional alcohol exposure on renal and cardiovascular development and function

“…This was unexpected in light of our previous finding that periconceptional alcohol exposure is associated with elevated fasted plasma glucose, impaired glucose tolerance and decreased insulin sensitivity at 6 months of age (Gardebjer et al, 2015). We have also previously reported that PC:EtOH causes fetal growth restriction (Gardebjer et al, 2014) and postnatal catch up growth (Gardebjer et al, 2015) both of which have been associated with increased fat deposition and risk of obesity in many previous studies (Bellinger et al, 2006;Joss-Moore et al, 2010;Gugusheff et al, 2016a). However, a gold standard measurement such as dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) would be needed to confirm these findings.…”