A maternal junk food diet in pregnancy and lactation promotes an

exacerbated taste for junk food and a greater propensity for obesity
in rat offspring
Stephanie A. Bayol*, Samantha J. Farrington and Neil C. Stickland
The Royal Veterinary College, Royal College Street, Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, London, NW1 0TU, UK
(Received 3 April 2007 Revised 26 June 2007 Accepted 29 June 2007)
Obesity is generally associated with high intake of junk foods rich in energy, fat, sugar and salt combined with a dysfunctional control of appetite
and lack of exercise. There is some evidence to suggest that appetite and body mass can be inuenced by maternal food intake during the fetal and
suckling life of an individual. However, the inuence of a maternal junk food diet during pregnancy and lactation on the feeding behaviour and
weight gain of the offspring remains largely uncharacterised. In this study, six groups of rats were fed either rodent chow alone or with a junk food
diet during gestation, lactation and/or post-weaning. The daily food intakes and body mass were measured in forty-two pregnant and lactating
mothers as well as in 216 offspring from weaning up to 10 weeks of age. Results showed that 10 week-old rats born to mothers fed the junk
food diet during gestation and lactation developed an exacerbated preference for fatty, sugary and salty foods at the expense of protein-rich
foods when compared with offspring fed a balanced chow diet prior to weaning or during lactation alone. Male and female offspring exposed
to the junk food diet throughout the study also exhibited increased body weight and BMI compared with all other offspring. This study shows
that a maternal junk food diet during pregnancy and lactation may be an important contributing factor in the development of obesity.
Junk food: Cafeteria diet: Appetite programming: Feeding behaviour: Obesity
Obesity and related disorders are on the increase. According to
a report by WHO, around one billion human individuals were
classied as overweight worldwide in 2003 and 300 million
were obese
1
. Obesity affects populations increasingly earlier
in life with around 22 million children under the age of 5
years being classed as overweight. Men and women appear
to be differently affected, with the obesity rate being greater
in women
1
. Obesity and overweight are associated with a
range of disorders such as type 2 diabetes
2
and CVD
3
and
are causing increasing concerns in both the Western and
developing worlds, essentially because of their impact on
the economy and welfare of populations. The cause of the
widespread increase in obesity and overweight is generally
attributed to overeating and, thereby, the difculties that
some people experience in controlling their appetite, com-
bined with a lack of exercise. Appetite regulation can be
even more challenging by the abundance and easy availability
of so-called junk foods, which are dened as heavily pro-
cessed, highly palatable and hyper-energetic and are often
deprived of the vitamins and essential nutrients found in
whole unprocessed foods.
Because over-eating and lack of exercise constitute growing
threats to health and consequent economic repercussions, there
is an increasing effort from governments worldwide to encou-
rage healthier eating habits not only in adults but also in chil-
dren
4,5
. However, there is also accumulating evidence that
appetite and activity levels can be inuenced or programmed
by maternal nutrition during the fetal and suckling life of an
individual
611
. Most studies on appetite programming have,
however, predominantly been focused on maternal under-
nutrition, and the inuence of a maternal junk food diet on
the feeding behaviour, body weight and activity levels of the
offspring remains largely uncharacterised. In the present
study, we have therefore given rats ad libitum access to a
selection of palatable junk foods designed for human con-
sumption, as previously described
12
, in order to examine the
feeding behaviour and food preference of pregnant and lactat-
ing rats and determine the inuence of such a maternal junk
food diet on appetite regulation, food preference, body
weight gain and activity levels in the offspring up to 10
weeks of age. The aim of this study is therefore to examine
whether exposure to a maternal junk food diet during preg-
nancy and lactation can be a contributing factor in the devel-
opment of obesity by inuencing the feeding behaviour,
growth rate and activity levels in offspring.
Experimental methods
Animals
All animal work was carried out under UK Home Ofce
licence to comply with the Animals (Scientic Procedures)
* Corresponding author: Stephanie Bayol, fax 44 (0) 20 7388 1027, email [email protected]
Abbreviation: G20, gestation day 20.
British Journal of Nutrition (2007), 98, 843851 doi: 10.1017/S0007114507812037
q The Authors 2007
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Act 1986. All animals used were purchased from Charles
River, Margate, Kent, UK. They had free access to water
and were kept in a light-, temperature- and humidity-
controlled environment throughout the experiment (1410 h
light dark cycles, 20 ^ 28C, 45 % relative humidity). The
animals were fed two types of diet throughout the study.
They were fed either RM3 rodent chow alone ad libitum
(SDS Ltd, Betchworth, Surrey, UK) or with a junk food
diet, also known as cafeteria diet
12
, which consisted of eight
different types of palatable foods, purchased from a British
supermarket. The palatable food included biscuits, marshmal-
lows, cheese, jam doughnuts, chocolate chip mufns, butter
apjacks, potato crisps and caramel/chocolate bars; a descrip-
tion of the nutritional value and ingredients is given in the sup-
plementary data le. Each of the eight palatable foods as well
as the chow was weighed before and 1 d after it was given to
the rats, such that daily food intakes could be calculated
following correction for humidity gain or loss. The animals
on the junk food diet received excess quantities of each food-
stuff including the chow, such that their intake was ad libitum.
Forty-two virgin female Wistar rats aged between 12 to 14
weeks were randomly mated with Wistar males in wire-bot-
tomed cages. On the day a copulation plug was found, the
females were isolated, fourteen females were given the
chow diet and twenty-eight were given the junk food diet as
illustrated in Fig. 1. From the day of parturition and through-
out lactation (21 d), the fourteen females from the chow group
and their offspring were maintained on the chow diet (CC
group), fourteen litters from the junk food diet group were
switched from the junk food to the chow diet (JC group)
and the remaining fourteen were maintained on the junk
food diet (JJ group). On the twenty-rst day of lactation, the
pups were weaned. Three males and three females from six lit-
ters in each nutritional group (216 pups in total) were kept and
housed in groups of three siblings per cage such that the males
were separated from the females. From weaning up to 10
weeks of age, the pups were either given the chow or the
junk food diet, such that there was a total of six different diet-
ary regimes as illustrated in Fig. 1. Therefore, thirty-six
weanling pups from each of the CC, JC and JJ groups were
weaned on the chow diet; these groups were named CCC,
JCC and JJC respectively. Another thirty-six pups from each
of the CC, JC and JJ groups were weaned on the junk food
diet and were named CCJ, JCJ and JJJ respectively.
Litter sizes were standardised by selecting those that con-
tained between ten and sixteen pups while outsized litters
were discarded from the study. Litter sizes at birth were there-
fore comparable and not statistically different among the six
nutritional groups (one-way ANOVA). This method of stan-
dardising litter sizes was favoured over reducing litters at
birth because it enabled a better standardisation of the
number of fetuses during gestation, as previously described
12
.
Therefore, maternal feeding behaviour during gestation was
studied in a population of dams that were expected to carry
comparable numbers of fetuses.
Mothers and offspring were weighed daily throughout the
study except for the day of parturition to avoid causing
unnecessary distress. The body lengths of the offspring were
measured at the end of the experiment (10 weeks from
birth), after killing, and were taken from the tip of the nose
to the base of the tail. These were used to calculate the BMI,
i.e. kg/m
2
. The daily post-weaning growth rates were calcu-
lated according to the following formula: ((body mass at
day 70) (body mass at day 21) / 49 d).
Activity monitoring
In order to determine whether differences in body weights
could be directly related to varying levels of activity and
voluntary exercise, unstimulated activity levels were
measured. The measurements were made in some pregnant
mothers at gestation day 20 (G20), (ten for the chow group
Fig. 1. Experimental design. Rats were either fed rodent chow alone (C) or with the junk food diet (J) during pregnancy, lactation and post-weaning up to 10
weeks of age. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of dams (gestation), litters (lactation) and offspring (post-weaning) in each nutritional group. For
details of animals and procedures, see Experimental methods.
S. A. Bayol et al. 844
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and sixteen for the junk food group) as well as in two male and
two female offspring per litter at postnatal weeks 4, 6, 8 and
10 (twenty-four animals per group, i.e. 144 animals in total;
the same animals were used throughout the study). Activity
was measured using the Linton AM1053 activity monitor
and associated Amonlite software (Linton Instrumentation,
Palgrave, Diss, Norfolk, UK). The monitor consisted of two
levels of IR light beams (forty-eight in total), which measured
activity in X, Y, Z direction and was set up such that the lower
set of beams measured the activity of rats walking at the
bottom of the tank, while the higher set measured the activity
of rats standing on their back legs, namely, rearing activity.
When the IR light beams were broken by the animals move-
ment, total activity counts were recorded by the Amonlite soft-
ware. Activity measurements were performed during the light
phase and the animals were left alone in the room while
measurements were taken in order to minimise external
visual, auditory or scented stimuli that might have interfered
with their normal activity. The experiments were set up such
that the animals were allowed to settle in the tank for 2 min
before measurements were recorded. The measure of activity
was recorded every 30 s for a total of 15 min, such that
thirty individual measurements were taken from each animal
in each experiment. The sum of the total as well as rearing
activity counts from those thirty measurements was then
calculated and analysed statistically.
Statistical analyses
Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS 140 for
Windows software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
Pregnancy. Appropriate randomisation of the animals into
the six nutritional groups at the start of the experiment was
checked by examining the body mass averages and standard
deviations. During pregnancy, there were only two types of
dietary regimens, namely, chow and junk food diet. The vari-
ables (food, energy, macronutrient intakes, body weights and
activity levels) were graphically tested for normal distribution
using the explore function of the SPSS software and non-
normal adjustments were not necessary. Differences between
these two groups were analysed using an unpaired (or inde-
pendent samples) two-tailed Students t test together with
the Levenes test for equality of variances to determine if
equal variances should be assumed. Results were considered
statistically signicant when P,005.
Lactation. During lactation, there were three types of diet-
ary regimens, namely, CC, JC and JJ. The variables (food,
energy, macronutrient intakes and body weights) were also
graphically tested for normal distribution and non-normal
adjustments were not necessary. Differences among these
three groups were then analysed by one-way ANOVA.
When the one-way ANOVA indicated differences among the
three dietary regimens (P,005), post-hoc analyses were
performed to determine more specic differences among the
three groups. The variables were either tested by the Tukey
honestly signicantly different (HSD) or the Games-Howell
test if the Levenes test was P.005 or P,005 respectively.
Results were considered statistically signicant when P,005
and as trends when 005 , P,01.
Post weaning. After weaning, there were six different
groups, namely, CCC, CCJ, JCC, JCJ, JJC and JJJ (Fig. 1).
The variables (food, energy, macronutrient intakes, body
weight, body length and related parameters) from the six
groups were tested using a hierarchical two-way (also
known as nested) ANOVA. The xed factors were dened
as group and sex while mother was dened as random
factor. The models were designed as group, sex,
mother(group) and group sex. The residuals from these
analyses were graphically tested for normal distribution and
the residuals were plotted against the predicted values for
each parameter to verify homogeneity of variances. Non-
normal modications were not necessary. For the food
intake analyses, the hierarchical two-way ANOVA showed
no signicant interaction between group sex; therefore,
results were analysed for the entire rat population combining
males and females. When the hierarchical two-way ANOVA
indicated statistical differences between group (P,005),
Tukey HSD post-hoc analyses were performed to determine
more specic differences among the six nutritional groups.
For the results on body mass, length, BMI and growth rates,
the hierarchical two-way ANOVA indicated interactions
between group sex (P,005); therefore, the data le was
split into sexes and differences among the six nutritional
groups were analysed independently for males and females
by one-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc analyses when
P,005. The Games-Howell post-hoc test was used in all
cases as the Levenes test for equality of variances indicated
that unequal variances should be assumed.
All results were considered statistically signicant when
P,005 and as trends when 005 , P,01. Each post-wean-
ing growth stage was statistically analysed independently
from the others and the P values and standard errors of
the means for the food analyses are only represented on the
graphs for week 10 for clarity. Because the food intakes are
not always clearly differentiated on the graphs, the mean
values and standard errors of the means for the total energy
and energy from the junk food source consumed by the ani-
mals at postnatal weeks 4 and 10 are presented in Table 1.
Results and discussion
Pregnant dams exhibit hyperphagia and a marked preference
for junk food over chow, which is associated with body weight
gain and decreased activity levels at gestation day20
Fig. 2(A) shows that pregnant dams given free access to a
selection of palatable junk foods together with their normal
balanced chow ate approximately 40 % more food (g) and
56 % more energy on average every day compared with
those given rodent chow alone (P,0001 in both cases). Preg-
nant rats fed the junk food diet exhibited a marked preference
for junk food over chow with only 20 % of the total energy
consumed throughout pregnancy originating from the rodent
chow. Fig. 2(B) shows that the pregnant rats fed the junk
food diet ate more total fat, including saturated fat, more
carbohydrates, including sucrose, as well as more salt; how-
ever, they reduced their protein and dietary bre intake com-
pared with rats fed chow alone (P,0001 in all cases). These
results clearly show that pregnant rats, given ad libitum access
to junk food, exhibited hyperphagia characterised by a marked
preference for foods rich in fat, sucrose and salt at the expense
of protein-rich foods, when compared with rats that only had
Maternal junk food diet and diet-induced obesity in offspring 845
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access to rodent chow. Although the body mass of dams was
comparable among all groups at the start of the experiment,
the increased energy intake in the junk food group throughout
gestation was accompanied by an increase in body mass at
G20 with the junk food-fed dams (4385 (SEM 52) g) being
13 % heavier than those fed chow alone (3866 (SEM 54) g,
P,0001, supplementary Table 2, available online). The dams
included in the study gave birth to statistically comparable
numbers of pups, which indicates that the increase in body
mass was probably not caused by an increased number of
fetuses. At G20, the mothers in the junk food group also
exhibited a 27 % (P0038) and 37 % (P0013) reduction
Table 1. Total energy and energy from the junk food source consumed daily by the offspring
during post-natal weeks 4 and 10*
(Values are means with their standard errors of the mean)
Total energy consumed (kJ) Energy from junk food (kJ)
Week 4 Week 10 Week 4 Week 10
Group* Mean SEM Mean SEM Mean SEM Mean SEM
CCC 1879
a
36 3999
a
297 0
a
0 0
a
0
CCJ 2278
b
104 7233
b
621 1325
b
88 5416
b
449
JCC 1763
a
47 4006
a
284 0
a
0 0
a
0
JCJ 1942
a
53 6572
b
580 1120
c
46 5106
b
521
JJC 1529
c
42 3994
a
219 0
a
0 0
a
0
JJJ 2313
b
143 8859
c
695 1111
c
92 7074
c
546
a,b,c Mean values with different superscript letters were statistically different between the six nutritional
groups (P,005).
* For details of animals and procedures, see Experimental methods.
Fig. 2. Average daily dietary intake during pregnancy. Pregnant rats fed the junk food diet (J: ) exhibit an increased energy intake (A) as well as a preference for foods
rich in fat, carbohydrates and salt at the expense of protein-rich foods (B) compared with those fed rodent chow alone (C:A). Results are means with their standard
errors of the mean, n 13 for C and n 28 for J. ***P , 0001 by unpaired two-tailed Students t test. For details of animals and procedures, see Experimental methods.
S. A. Bayol et al. 846
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in total and rearing activity level respectively. Therefore,
increased energy intake combined with reduced activity may
explain the increased body mass observed at G20 in the cafe-
teria-fed dams.
Lactating dams exhibit hyperphagia and a preference for junk
food over chow but this is not accompanied by increased body
mass
Fig. 3(A) shows that the hyperphagia and increased intake of
foods rich in fat, sucrose and salt observed during pregnancy
continued into lactation in rats kept on the junk food diet
(JJ group). During lactation, 30 % of the total energy con-
sumed by the JJ group originated from chow. Interestingly,
the daily energy intake of rats that were switched from the
junk food diet to chow alone from birth (JC group) was
reduced by approximately 12 % (P0024) compared with
those fed rodent chow throughout (CC group). Consequently,
the total fat (including saturated fat), sucrose, protein, bre
and salt intakes were also reduced by approximately 12 % in
the JC group compared with the CC group (Fig. 3(B)).
Despite consuming more energy throughout lactation, the
body mass of mothers in the JJ group was comparable with
those in the CC and JC groups at the end of lactation,
namely, 21 d post-partum (CC 3604 (SEM 58) g; JC 3639
(SEM 57) g; JJ 3494 (SEM 61) g; P0514; supplementary
Table 2, available online). The activity levels were not
measured in lactating dams but the lack of body mass increase,
despite consuming more energy, suggests that the mothers fed
the junk food diet during lactation may have invested more
energy in milk production and therefore their milk may have
been richer than that produced by the chow-fed lactating
rats. In the present study, we did not measure milk compo-
sition; however, another study using a variation of the junk
food diet model showed that cafeteria-fed dams produced
milk that was richer in energy and fat
13
. Therefore, it is
likely that in our model, too, the dams fed the junk food
diet might also have produced richer milk and we propose
that this might partly explain the lack of body weight gain
in the JJ group despite increased energy consumption
throughout lactation.
The inuence of a maternal junk food diet on the body weight
of offspring at birth and at weaning: similarities with the
maternal low protein diet model
Despite increased maternal energy intake during pregnancy
and comparable litter sizes, the offspring born to mothers
fed the junk food diet (626 (SEM 003) g) exhibited a marginal
(4 %) but signicant reduction in birth weight compared with
those fed chow alone (655 (SEM 006) g, P,0001). Similarly,
at weaning, the body mass of pups from the JJ group (4939
(SEM 057) g) remained lower compared with those fed
rodent chow alone throughout, namely, the CC group (5285
(SEM 040) g, P,0001). Switching from the junk food diet
during gestation to rodent chow alone during lactation was
even more detrimental for the growth of the offspring, as
weanling pups from the JC groups were lighter in weight
(4392 (SEM 057) g) compared with both the CC and JJ
groups (P,0001 in both cases; supplementary Table 3).
These results on offsprings body weights at birth and weaning
are in line with previous observations made in our laboratory
using the same cafeteria diet model
12
. However, in the pre-
vious study, body mass results did not reach statistical signi-
cance due to much smaller numbers of animals being used.
Another study using a variation of the cafeteria diet model
14
showed that litter sizes were increased, whereas birth weights
were not affected. However, in Holemans et als study, the
cafeteria diet was given to the animals 4 weeks before
mating, while in the present study it was given on the rst
day of gestation. The reasons why the birth and weaning
weights of offspring exposed to the junk food diet were
reduced in the present study are unclear but one explanation
might be maternal protein intake. Despite increased total
energy intake, the cafeteria-fed dams decreased their protein
intake by approximately 37 % and 34 % during gestation and
lactation respectively. Previous reports have shown that iso-
energetic but 50 % and 60 % protein-restricted diets through-
out pregnancy induced a reduction in the offsprings birth
weights
15,16
. In the current study, the voluntary protein restric-
tion (37 %) during gestation was not as severe as 50 % and
60 % and the reduction in birth weight observed (4 %) was
also less severe than the reported 95 % and 17 % reduction
associated with 50 % and 60 % protein reduction respect-
ively
15,16
. Similarly, a 60 % protein restriction during both
gestation and lactation led to a 25 % reduction in body
Fig. 3. Average daily dietary intake during lactation. Lactating rat dams fed
the junk food diet (JJ: ) exhibit an increased energy intake (A) as well as a
preference for foods rich in fat, sucrose and salt at the expense of protein-
rich foods (B), while rats rehabilitated to a chow diet from a junk food diet
during gestation (JC: ) exhibit a reduced energy and nutrient intake (A and
B) compared with rats fed rodent chow throughout (CC:A). Results are
means with their standard errors of the mean, n 14 for each group.
a,b
Mean
values with different superscript letters were statistically different among the
six nutritional groups (P,005). *Indicates trends, i.e. 005 ,P,01 by one-
way ANOVA and post-hoc analyses. For details of animals and procedures,
see Experimental methods.
Maternal junk food diet and diet-induced obesity in offspring 847
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weight at weaning
16
, which is also consistent with the present
results, showing a 7 % reduction in body mass at weaning in
pups from the JJ group compared with the CC group. In
light of this, it thus appears that the voluntary reduction in pro-
tein intake during gestation and lactation in cafeteria-fed dams
may be a key factor in explaining the reduced birth and wean-
ing weights observed and that maternal protein intake rather
than overall energy intake may play a major role in regulating
the offsprings body mass at birth and at weaning. However,
protein intake alone does not explain why the weaning
weight of pups from the JC groups was lower compared
with both the CC and JJ groups, as the protein intake during
lactation in this group was greater than in the JJ group. It
thus appears that increasing protein intake during lactation
was not sufcient to restore normal body mass in weanling
pups exposed to the junk food diet during their fetal life.
A maternal junk food diet before weaning promotes an
exacerbated preference for junk food and leads to a greater
propensity for obesity in the offspring
The main focus of the present study was to examine whether
a maternal junk food diet during pregnancy and lactation
could inuence the long-term feeding behaviour, growth
rate and activity levels of offspring. Results in Fig. 4(A)
and Table 1 show that at postnatal week 10, the rats
weaned on junk food, namely, the CCJ, JCJ and JJJ
groups, increased their energy intake compared with those
weaned on rodent chow alone, namely, the CCC, JCC and
JJC groups. However, rats exposed to the junk food diet
during gestation and lactation (JJJ group) exhibited an
approximately 18 % and 26 % daily increase in energy
intake compared with other offspring weaned on junk food,
but which were fed rodent chow alone during both gestation
and lactation (CCJ group) or during lactation alone (JCJ
group), (P,0001 in both cases).We further characterised
the source of energy intake in junk food diet-fed rats and
results in Fig. 4(B) show that the energy intake from chow
was comparable in all offspring weaned on the junk food
diet, namely, CCJ, JCJ and JJJ groups. However, Fig. 4(C)
shows that the energy intake from the junk food source
was increased in the JJJ group compared with the CCJ and
JCJ groups (P,0001 for both cases). Further analyses
showed that the exacerbated intake of junk food in the JJJ
group was characterised by a selective preference for foods
rich in fat, sugar and salt but not in proteins and bres (sup-
plementary Fig. 2). Therefore, although all young rat off-
spring enjoyed eating junk food and favoured it over
chow, particularly during the latest stages of growth exam-
ined (Fig. 4(D)), the animals that were exposed to the junk
food diet during pregnancy and lactation (JJJ group) exhib-
ited exacerbated hyperphagia and a greater preference for
junk food compared with offspring fed a balanced chow
diet prior to weaning (CCJ group) or during lactation (JCJ
group). It is important to note that offspring exposed to the
junk food diet during gestation alone (JCC group) or
during gestation and lactation (JJC group) and were then
weaned on chow did not exhibit hyperphagia (Fig. 4(A)).
Pups from the JJC group exhibited a reduction in energy
intake for the rst 2 weeks from weaning compared with
both CCC and JJJ groups (Fig. 4, Table 1), indicating that
removing access to the palatable food at weaning induced a
temporary reduction in energy intake, which then returned
to control levels by week 10.
Fig. 4. Average daily energy intake for postnatal weeks 4 to 10. Offspring exposed to the junk food diet (JJJ) throughout the study exhibit exacerbated hyperpha-
gia (A) and an increased taste for junk food (B, C and D). Open symbols indicate animals weaned on chow alone while lled symbols indicate those weaned on
junk food: CCC +; CCJ X; JCC D; JCJ O; JJC A; JJJ B; energy from chow ; energy from CD B.
a,b,c
Different letters at week 10 indicate statistical differences
among the six nutritional groups (P,005) by hierarchical two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey honestly signicantly different (HSD) post-hoc analyses. For details
of animals and procedures, see Experimental methods.
S. A. Bayol et al. 848
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To examine whether energy intake in offspring could be
directly inuenced by variation in activity level, we measured
activity levels during the light phase over a 15 min period at
postnatal weeks 4, 6, 8 and 10. Results showed that the six
dietary regimens examined did not inuence the total and
rearing activity levels in the offspring, whether males or
females (data not shown). Therefore, we found no evidence
that the six dietary regimens inuenced activity levels such
that it might be the predominant explanation for the increased
energy intake in cafeteria-fed rats. However, a full character-
isation of the animals activity including nocturnal activity,
which is when rats are normally more active, over a longer
period, is required to fully eliminate activity as a signicant
factor explaining the increased energy intake. We also noted
large variations in activity levels in female offspring and
feel that this might be caused by differences in ovulation
status. Female rats appeared to shiver and be hyperactive
when ovulating. Therefore, for future activity monitoring
experiments, it might be benecial to take into account the
ovulation status of female rats to avoid such variability,
which may mask the true effects of the treatment.
The increased energy intake in the JJJ group over all other
groups was accompanied by an increase in body mass, BMI
and post-weaning growth rates in both male and female off-
spring at week 10 (Fig. 5(A),(B),(D)), even though JJ off-
spring exhibited lower body mass at weaning compared with
CC offspring. The increased body mass and BMI in the JJJ
group compared with the CCC group were greater in females
(32 % and 21 % respectively) than in males (22 % and 18 %
respectively). This indicates that females were more prone
to weight gain than males when exposed to a junk food diet
throughout the study. Fig. 5(C) also shows that the dietary
regimens examined did not inuence the body length of
male offspring. However, a junk food diet throughout the
study (JJJ group) or after weaning (CCJ group) induced an
increase in body length in female offspring (Fig. 5(C)).
Results in Fig. 5(A) also show that despite being heavier at
weaning, pups in the CCJ group were 15 % and 18 % lighter
than males and females from the JJJ group respectively at
week 10 (P0012 and P0019 for males and females
respectively). Surprisingly, males from the CCJ group were
not statistically heavier than the males from the CCC group;
however, their BMI was greater (Fig. 5(A),(B)). On the con-
trary, the females from the CCJ group were heavier than
those in the CCC group but their BMI were comparable
(Fig. 5(A),(B)). These results therefore show that a balanced
diet during gestation and lactation can provide some protec-
tion over a junk food diet-induced obesity in offspring.
Taken together the results show that exposure to a maternal
junk food diet during gestation and lactation promotes exacer-
bated hyperphagia with a selective preference for junk foods
rich in fat, sugar and salt, as well as overweight gain when
compared with offspring also given free access to junk food
but which were exclusively fed a balanced chow diet before
weaning or during lactation alone.
Is palatability the main driving stimulus for the exacerbated
hyperphagia?
The present study shows that, like man, rats, whether pregnant
and lactating dams or young offspring, exhibited a preference
for palatable foods rich in fat, sugar and salt over plain yet
nutritionally balanced rodent chow. In addition, when the
palatable food was removed and the rats were given access
Fig. 5. The inuence of a maternal junk food diet on body mass, length and associated parameters in offspring. Male and female offspring fed the junk food
diet throughout the study exhibit increased body mass (A), BMI (B) and post-weaning growth rates (D) while body length is only affected in female offspring (C).
Different capital and lower case letters indicate statistical differences among the six nutritional groups in male and female offspring respectively (P,005) by one-
way ANOVA and Games-Howell post-hoc analyses. For details of animals and procedures, see Experimental methods.
Maternal junk food diet and diet-induced obesity in offspring 849
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to rodent chow alone (JC mothers and JJC pups), they reduced
their energy intake compared with rats that had not been
exposed to the junk food diet. This further emphasises that
palatability plays a major role in appetite regulation and
energy intake as previously reviewed
17
. However, it is import-
ant to note that a similar reduction in food intake has been
reported in non-pregnant obese female mice, which were
switched from a high-fat to standard chow diet
18
, indicating
that variations in fat content alone can cause a reduction in
food intake. Nevertheless, fat content alone may not explain
the increased energy intake observed in the junk food-fed
rats, as it has been reported previously that pregnant rats fed
a high-fat chow diet reduced their food intake (g) such that
their gross energy intake was comparable with a control
group fed a standard chow diet
19
.
The mechanisms that regulate appetite are complex and
not yet fully elucidated. Appetite regulation involves cross
talk between appetite centres in the brain and peripheral fac-
tors, such as leptin, insulin and ghrelin, to regulate energy
balance, satiety and hunger
20
. Nevertheless, feeding is not
only a matter of regulating energy balance; it is also a plea-
surable experience that involves reward centres in the brain,
such that the combination of pleasure with feeding may
occasionally override the normal regulation of satiety
20
.
More specically, palatable foods rich in fat and sugar
have been shown to inhibit the satiety signals while promot-
ing hunger and stimulating the reward centres
17
. One key
question in the present study is what are the underlying
mechanisms driving the JJJ group to overeat compared with
all other groups? Factors such as activity, body composition
and body weight maintenance as well as a varying sensitivity
to food palatability might all contribute to this. More active
rats would require more energy intake but activity measure-
ments showed no conclusive evidence that the diets signi-
cantly inuenced the rats activity. We have shown
previously that our junk food diet model could inuence
body composition in weanling rats, leading to muscle atrophy
and increased adiposity
12
. Different body composition may
inuence energy expenditure and thereby energy intake. Hea-
vier bodies might also require more energy to sustain a
steady weight and, indeed, the rats from the JJJ group were
overweight at week 10 compared with those in all
other groups. Furthermore, examination of energy intake
per g body weight at week 10 showed no differences
among the three groups weaned on the junk food diet (sup-
plementary Fig. 3(A)), suggesting that sustaining body mass
might also inuence the animals food intake, particularly
during the later stages of growth examined. However, sus-
taining body weight is unlikely to be the main driving
factor explaining the exacerbated hyperphagia observed in
the JJJ group, at least immediately after weaning, because
at weaning these offspring were signicantly lighter than
those in the CCJ group and yet the energy intake between
these two groups during the rst week from weaning were
comparable. Furthermore, pups in the JJC group, which
were equally underweight as those in the JJJ group at wean-
ing, did not increase their energy intake when weaned on
chow alone. Therefore, if sustaining body mass or catch-
up growth were the major driving stimuli to explain the
exacerbated hyperphagia observed in the JJJ group, then
the JJC pups would also overeat regardless of their diet.
Further evidence that food palatability may be the main driv-
ing stimulus for the exacerbated hyperphagia observed in the
JJJ group comes from the study of the source of energy con-
sumed. All rats fed the junk food diet after weaning (CCJ,
JCJ and JJJ groups) ate comparable quantities of rodent chow
and the excess energy intake in rats from the JJJ group exclu-
sively originated from the junk food source. In addition, these
rats preferentially selected foods rich in fat, sugar and salt but
not in protein, therefore arguably more palatable. This indicates
that palatability as well as energy, fat, sugar and salt content
might be a major driving stimulus for the excessive food
intake observed in the JJJ group. This is further supported by
the feeding behaviour of animals in the JJC group, which
were also exposed to the junk food diet before weaning. In
this group, when the palatable food, i.e. the factor that we sus-
pect is promoting the exacerbated overeating, was removed and
the rats were only given exclusive access to rodent chow, their
energy intake was not only reduced compared with the JJJ
group but was also reduced compared with the CCC group
for 2 weeks from weaning, before reaching CCC levels by
week 10. In our view, this indicates that food palatability was
therefore a major driving stimulus for the exacerbated hyper-
phagia observed in the JJJ group.
In light of these, it thus appears that exposure to a maternal
junk food diet during gestation and lactation promotes an
exacerbated taste for palatable foods rich in fat, sugar and
salt in the offspring. The present study therefore suggests
that exposure to a maternal junk food diet during the fetal
and suckling life of an individual might be a contributing
factor as to why some individuals might nd it easier than
others to control their junk food intake when given free
access to a cafeteria-style diet.
Lactation: an important period for the programming of an
exacerbated intake of junk food
It appears that post-weaning hyperphagia can be programmed
during the fetal life of an individual through maternal under-
nutrition
21
as well as during the suckling period by increased
intake of milk
22,23
. The present study further emphasises that
maternal nutrition during lactation might play a key role in
inuencing the long-term appetite of the offspring given free
access to junk food. Although groups CJC and CJJ were not
included in the study, the importance of lactation is illustrated
in rats exposed to the junk food diet during gestation and after
weaning but not during lactation. Offspring from the JCJ
group did not exhibit the long-term increased energy intake
that was observed in the JJJ group (Fig. 4) and their body
mass, BMI, body length and post-weaning growth rates were
comparable with the CCC group. It thus appears that switch-
ing to a rodent chow diet during lactation and the associated
12 % voluntary reduction in energy intake (Fig. 2) prevented
the exacerbated hyperphagia and overweight gain observed
in offspring fed the junk food diet throughout the study
(JJJ). The importance of the suckling period for the program-
ming of hyperphagia in offspring has been previously
described in the litter size reduction model
22
and it was
suggested that overall milk intake as well as milk composition
might be key regulators of the development and maturation of
the central and peripheral control of appetite. In the present
study, we did not measure milk composition but it appears
S. A. Bayol et al. 850
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that switching from a junk food diet to chow at birth might
have inuenced milk production, composition and/or the lac-
tating behaviour of the dams leading to some protection
against the exacerbated hyperphagia and overweight gain
observed in the JJJ group.
Conclusions
The present study shows that rats given free access to junk
food increase their energy intake and spontaneously exhibit
a preference for fatty, sugary and salty foods. The long-term
preference and intake of junk food is further exacerbated
when offspring have been exposed to the junk food diet
during pregnancy and lactation leading to a greater propensity
for obesity. However, a combination of mild energy restriction
(12 %) and a balanced diet during lactation can prevent the
over-excessive consumption of junk food and associated over-
weight gain. It also appears that food palatability might be an
important driving stimulus for the exacerbated hyperphagia
observed.
This study therefore emphasises that healthy eating habits
should be encouraged, not only in young children but also
in pregnant and breastfeeding women, to help combat the
obesity epidemic. The message to instil in populations is
that women may not consider pregnancy and breastfeeding
as an opportunity to overindulge on fatty, sugary and salty
foods, on the misguided assumption that they are eating for
two. Indeed, we show evidence that a maternal junk food
diet might promote an exacerbated taste for junk food and a
greater propensity for obesity in offspring, which might in
turn make it more difcult to encourage healthy eating
habits and thereby control obesity and related problems.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank staff of the Biological Services Unit at the
RVC, as well as Julie Dupau, Natalia Perez and the Muscle
Unit for their help with the animal work. The authors also
thank Aviva Petrie for her help and advice with the statistical
analyses. This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Note
Supplementary information accompanies this paper on the
Journals website (http://journals.cambridge.org).
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