In a recent study published in the journal Obesity, researchers evaluated the impact of maternal dietary protein and carbohydrate balance on offspring’s appetite and metabolic health.
Study: Maternal macronutrient intake effects on offspring macronutrient targets and metabolism. Image Credit: Prostock-studio/Shutterstock.com Background
Animals have nutrient-specific hunger mechanisms for both macronutrients and micronutrients. Protein prioritizing, regulating calorie intake more closely than non-protein consumption, is associated with the human obesity pandemic. Lean growth, reduced protein efficiency, senescence, insulin resistance, physiological adaptation to higher-protein diets, and genetic adaptation to ancestral high-protein diets all contribute to this problem. The impact of maternal macronutrient balance on offspring behavior and health is uncertain.
About the study
In the present study, researchers evaluated the impact of the maternal high-protein diet on offspring. They placed dams on LP or HP diets and their offspring on a food choice experiment post-weaning, subsequently constraining them to no-choice standard or Western diets (WD).
The researchers used C57BL6/Jarc mice for the experiments. They started 30 dams on the study diets at 11 weeks of age and continued them for four weeks before mating. They measured dam food consumption and body weights weekly, while 30 studs arriving at four weeks of age were housed separately outside the mating period to avoid fighting.
The team manufactured experimental diets as dry pellets, matched for minerals and vitamins. The LP diet had 10% protein, 20% fat, and 70% carbohydrate, while the HP diet had 35% protein, 20% fat, and 45% carbohydrate. The stud diets