American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 25, 812-821, Copyright © 1972 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Maternal undernutrition and its long-term effects on the offspring

¹ From the Department of Biochemistry, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205

Undernutrition of the mammalian organism during early development can affect ultimate body weight and cause various abnormalities in metabolism and functional capabilities. These effects can be mediated by the maternal diet and may persist long after an adequate supply of nutrients becomes available. The alterations that accompanied prenatal undernourishment of laboratory animals such as rats and mice included stunted growth, deficient renal tubular function, retarded neuromotor development, and impaired learning capacity. When the period of undernourishment extended through both pre- and early postnatal life (i.e., until weaning), the effects were similar but of much greater magnitude. Few long-term studies on effects of maternal underfeeding during both periods are available, due probably to the extremely high mortality of these animals in neonatal life. Many of the characteristics of the survivors during early life indicated delayed development and, therefore, perhaps a reduced rate of biological aging. However, during adulthood and senescence these experimental animals resembled chronologically older ones on the basis of several criteria, such as response to stress and rate of development of age-associated biochemical changes. This latter phenomenon, i.e., an apparent acceleration of aging, may be related to increased feed intake relative to body weight throughout postweaning life.

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