The Benefits of Switching to a Healthy Diet on Metabolic, Cognitive, and Gut Microbiome Parameters Are Preserved in Adult Rat Offspring of Mothers Fed a High-Fat, High-Sugar Diet

ScopeMaternal obesity increases the risk of health complications in children, highlighting the need for effective interventions. A rat model of maternal obesity to examine whether a diet switch intervention could reverse the adverse effects of an unhealthy postweaning diet is used. Methods and resultsMale and female offspring born to dams fed standard chow or a high-fat, high-sugar cafeteria (Caf) diet are weaned onto chow or Caf diets until 22 weeks of age, when Caf-fed groups are switched to chow for 5 weeks. Adiposity, gut microbiota composition, and place recognition memory are assessed before and after the switch. Body weight and adiposity fall in switched groups but remain significantly higher than chow-fed controls. Nonetheless, the diet switch improves a deficit in place recognition memory observed in Caf-fed groups, increases gut microbiota species richness, and alters beta diversity. Modeling indicate that adiposity most strongly predicts gut microbiota composition before and after the switch. ConclusionMaternal obesity does not alter the effects of switching diet on metabolic, microbial, or cognitive measures. Thus, a healthy diet intervention lead to major shifts in body weight, adiposity, place recognition memory, and gut microbiota composition, with beneficial effects preserved in offspring born to obese dams.

Automated summary

This study examines the effects of a diet switch intervention in a rat model of maternal obesity. The results show that the intervention leads to reductions in body weight and adiposity, improvements in place recognition memory, and changes in gut microbiota composition.