Low protein diet during lactation programs adiposity and endocrine profile in adult female rats

Early life nutrition can exert permanent changes to the physiological functions of the offspring and a protein-restriction (PR) diet in rodents is a well-established model used to investigate these alterations. Our research group and others have demonstrated that adult PR rats showed reduced body weight and adiposity, reduced serum cholesterol, leptin resistance in the hypothalamus, reduced plasma glucose and insulin and higher corticosterone, catecholamine and thyroid hormones levels. Interestingly, these findings were detected in male progeny.