Sucrose-rich feeding during rat pregnancy-lactation and/or after weaning alters glucose and lipid metabolism in adult offspring

Summary Adverse fetal and early life environments predispose to the development of metabolic disorders in adulthood. The present study examined whether offspring of normal Wistar dams fed a high‐sucrose diet (SRD) developed impaired lipid and glucose homeostasis when fed a control diet (CD) after weaning. In addition, we investigated whether there were more pronounced derangements in lipid and glucose homeostasis when offspring of SRD‐fed Wistar were fed an SRD after weaning compared with those in offspring of CD‐fed dams weaned on an SRD. During pregnancy and lactation, female rats were fed either an SRD or CD. After weaning, half the male offspring from both groups were fed a CD or SRD, up to 100 days of age (CD‐CD, CD‐SRD, SRD‐SRD and SRD‐CD groups). Final bodyweight was similar between all groups, although offspring of SRD‐fed dams had lighter bodyweight at birth. Plasma lipid and glucose levels were significantly higher (P