Medical researchers who looked at the behaviour of rats ascertained that the offspring of a mother who consumed a high-fat diet suffered abnormal feeding controls.
It has been previously established that obesity affects certain neurocircuits and the development of these circuits is most critical during pregnancy and lactation.
During the study, which has been published in the Journal of Physiology, researchers assessed the behaviour of rats during adolescence, whose mother was fed a high-fat diet, and measured neural activity involved in energy balance and appetite regulation.
Commenting on the findings which showed an abnormality in these functions, the associate professor of neural and behavioural sciences, Dr. Kirsteen Browning said: "We found that parts of these reflexes were actually compromised even before we saw obesity. Rats on the high-fat diet looked exactly the same as the control group rats in terms of the weight, but their feeding reflexes were already beginning to be compromised."
The leading doctor in the study stressed the importance of the research, saying: "If we recognise that this critical window during development may have very long-term outcomes, we'll pay more attention to mothers' health, wellbeing and diet."
Dr. Browning was, however, to keen to acknowledge that a variety of factors tend to contribute to obesity, but maintained: "An understanding of the biological mechanisms underpinning obesity could help stem the tide of obesity."
