Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
03:19

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes

Published on: June 28, 2024

726

Maternal Overfeeding during Lactation Impairs the Metabolic Response to Fed/Fasting Changing Conditions in the

Catalina Amadora Pomar1,2,3, Heriberto Castro1,4, Catalina Picó1,2,3

  • 1Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology (Nutrigenomics and Obesity), University of the Balearic Islands, 07122, Palma, Spain.

Molecular Nutrition & Food Research
|August 17, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Maternal cafeteria diet during lactation impairs offspring metabolic flexibility. This affects how young rats respond to fasting and feeding, potentially disrupting energy balance.

Area of Science:

  • Metabolic regulation
  • Developmental programming
  • Obesity research

Background:

  • Maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation can influence offspring metabolic health.
  • Perinatal nutritional status impacts long-term energy homeostasis.
  • Understanding early-life metabolic adaptations is crucial for preventing obesity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of maternal cafeteria diet exposure during lactation on offspring metabolic response to feeding and fasting.
  • To compare metabolic flexibility in offspring with different maternal dietary histories.
  • To assess the early-life programming of metabolic pathways in response to nutritional changes.

Main Methods:

  • Studied offspring from dams fed a cafeteria diet during lactation (O-CAF) and control dams (O-C) at an early age.
  • Analyzed gene expression related to lipogenesis and lipolysis in liver and retroperitoneal white adipose tissue (rpWAT) under fed/fasting conditions.
  • Measured AMPKα1 (AMP-activated protein kinase alpha 1) expression in liver and rpWAT.

Main Results:

  • Fasting downregulated lipogenesis and upregulated lipolysis/fatty acid uptake genes in control offspring.
  • Metabolic response to fed/fasting was impaired in O-CAF offspring, unlike O-PCaf offspring.
  • Fasting-induced increases in Prkaa1 and AMPKα1 protein were attenuated in O-CAF rats.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal cafeteria diet during lactation induces early metabolic alterations in offspring.
  • Impaired metabolic flexibility in response to feeding/fasting cycles hinders energy homeostasis maintenance.
  • Early nutritional interventions are critical for preventing long-term metabolic dysfunction.
Abstract

Keywords:
breastfeedingmetabolic flexibilitymetabolic programmingobesity

More Related Videos

Measurement of Survival Time in Brachionus Rotifers: Synchronization of Maternal Conditions05:18

Measurement of Survival Time in Brachionus Rotifers: Synchronization of Maternal Conditions

Published on: July 22, 2016

8.9K
Assessment of the Metabolic Effects of Isocaloric 2:1 Intermittent Fasting in Mice08:06

Assessment of the Metabolic Effects of Isocaloric 2:1 Intermittent Fasting in Mice

Published on: November 27, 2019

9.5K

Related Concept Videos

Metabolic States of the Body: Fasting and Starvation01:24

Metabolic States of the Body: Fasting and Starvation

During the initial hours of fasting, the body uses up its glycogen stores as an energy source. Once these glycogen reserves are depleted, the body begins breaking down stored triglycerides and structural proteins. During this stage, glycerol becomes a key substrate for gluconeogenesis, while free fatty acids undergo beta-oxidation to provide energy for tissues, such as skeletal muscle. In the fasting state, the body spares protein breakdown as much as possible to conserve muscle and structural...
2.7K
What is Metabolism?00:52

What is Metabolism?

Overview
131.2K
Standard Entropy Change for a Reaction03:00

Standard Entropy Change for a Reaction

Entropy is a state function, so the standard entropy change for a chemical reaction (ΔS°rxn) can be calculated from the difference in standard entropy between the products and the reactants.
24.0K
Le Chatelier's Principle: Changing Concentration02:27

Le Chatelier's Principle: Changing Concentration

A system at equilibrium is in a state of dynamic balance, with forward and reverse reactions taking place at equal rates. If an equilibrium system is subjected to a change in conditions that affects these reaction rates differently (a stress), then the rates are no longer equal and the system is not at equilibrium. The system will subsequently experience a net reaction in the direction of a greater rate (a shift) that will re-establish the equilibrium. This phenomenon is summarized by Le...
65.2K
Global Climate Change01:50

Global Climate Change

Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
28.7K
Work Done During Volume Change01:17

Work Done During Volume Change

In mechanics, work is done on an object when the force acting on it displaces the object. In thermodynamics, work done on a system can be estimated when the system's volume changes during any thermodynamic process.
Consider a gas confined to a cylinder fitted with a movable piston at one end. If the gas expands from volume V1 to volume V2, it exerts a force on the piston, such that the piston moves by a distance dr.
The work done by the gas on the piston can be expressed as
5.1K