Nutrition is an important non-genetic factor that affects growth and body composition(Reference Corva and Medrano1). Nutritional status of mothers prior to conception and during conception may influence physical characteristics of an offspring in later life(Reference Mortensen, Wang and Malte2). Studies suggest in utero and post weaning dietary exposure of an individual may modulate disease risk in adulthood(Reference Barker3, Reference Shen, Khor and Hu4). The aim of this study was to determine the effects of carrot supplementation of maternal (in utero) and post weaning diets on weight of mice at 5 weeks.
Female C57Bl6/J mice were randomised to a control diet (RM3) or carrot enriched powder diet (RM3 supplemented with 20 % powdered freeze dried carrot) from mating throughout pregnancy and lactation. The carrot powder provided the same energy (calories) as the standard diet, but also contained specific secondary metabolites: 3·1 g beta-carotene and 39·7 g polyacetylenes per kg. After weaning at 5 weeks offspring were randomised to carrot and control diets, weighed weekly and killed at an age of 15 weeks.
Fig. 1. Mean body weight of mice fed carrot-supplemented or control diets during different periods., Results presented as LSM, Error bars = SEM. Effect of post-weaning diet P = 0·014, of dam diet P = 0·9 and interaction P = 0·1.
Results suggest that a consumption of both pre- and post-weaning carrot powder diet significantly reduced body weight of adult mice compared to consuming a carrot powder diet only in the pre- or post-weaning period. This indicates that carrot consumption throughout gestation and post weaning may have stronger influence on health or disease in adulthood than exposures during weaning or post-weaning alone.
