Maternal high-fat diet promotes body length increases and insulin insensitivity in second-generation mice.

ABSTRACT: Maternal obesity and diet consumption during pregnancy have been linked to offspring adiposity, cardiovascular disease, and impaired glucose metabolism. Furthermore, nutrition during development is clearly linked to somatic growth. However, few studies have examined whether phenotypes derived from maternal high-fat diet exposure can be passed to subsequent generations and by what mechanisms this may occur. Here we report the novel finding of a significant body length increase that persisted across at least two generations of offspring in response to maternal high-fat diet exposure. This phenotype is not attributable to altered intrauterine conditions or maternal feeding behavior because maternal and paternal lineages were able to transmit the effect, supporting a true epigenetic manner of

SUBMITTER: Dunn GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2775990 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature