A maternal "junk food" diet in pregnancy and lactation promotes nonalcoholic Fatty liver disease in rat offspring.

ABSTRACT: With rising obesity rates, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is predicted to become the main cause of chronic liver disease in the next decades. Rising obesity prevalence is attributed to changes in dietary habits with increased consumption of palatable junk foods, but maternal malnutrition also contributes to obesity in progeny. This study examines whether a maternal junk food diet predisposes offspring to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The 144 rat offspring were fed either a balanced chow diet alone or with palatable junk foods rich in energy, fat, sugar, and/or salt during gestation, lactation, and/or after weaning up to the end of adolescence. Offspring fed junk food throughout the study exhibited exacerbated hepatic steatosis, hepatocyte ballooning, and oxidative stress response com

SUBMITTER: Bayol SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2850233 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature