Maternal diet affects feeding behaviour of self-selecting weanling rats

Weanling rats have been shown to regulate protein intake when provided the opportunity. The objective of these studies was to determine the influence of protein concentration in the maternal diet on protein selection of the offspring. Dams were fed single diets containing 10, 20, 30, or 40% casein throughout gestation and lactation. Pups from all groups were then allowed to select from diets containing 10 and 60% casein for two weeks. Protein selection in the weanling rat was found to correlate with protein concentration in the maternal diet expressed either as g/100g BW (r=0.48, p<0.05) or protein concentration (r=0.65, p<0.01). In order to differentiate between a gestational and lactational effect a cross-over study was performed. Pups from dams fed 10% casein during gestation and/or lactation selected 17% protein concentration, lower than the 25.1% selected by pups from dams receiving 40% casein through gestation and lactation. Therefore, feeding behaviour, as indicated by protein selection, is influenced by maternal diet during both gestation and lactation. The use of the self-selection paradigm has been proposed as a behavioural model for the investigation of the functional significance of maternal nutrition.