Endocrine Abstracts

Maternal diet can influence her offspring’s susceptibility to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Dietary excess, particularly of fructose and salt, is characteristic of current ‘Western’ diets consumed by pregnant women. We therefore aimed to determine the effects of high maternal fructose and salt intake on maternal metabolism and fetal development in rats. Thirty-two virgin Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 dietary groups; 1) control diet (CD, n=8) fed purified chow and tap water, 2) Salt diet (S.D., n=8) fed purified chow +4% NaCl, 3) Fructose diet (FD, n=8) fed purified chow and 10% fructose in tap water and 4) Fructose & salt diet (FSD, n=8), fed 4% NaCl purified chow with 10% fructose in the drinking water. Animals were fed ad libitum for 28 days prior to conception and to day 20 of gestation, whereupon they were euthanised. Blood samples were taken 14 days prior to conception and at day 20 of gestation for analysis of protein, fat and carbohydrate metabolism using an autoanalyser (RX-IMOLA, Randox). Prior to pregnancy, fructose intake increased plasma glucose, triglyceride, NEFA and uric acid concentration (P<0.001) with only glucose remaining higher in FD, relative to other groups, during pregnancy (P=0.029). Fructose feeding specifically increased maternal brain (P=0.03) and liver (P<0.001) weight and redistributed maternal fat in favour of visceral to the expense of peripheral depots (P=0.01). Maternal salt intake significantly increased maternal kidney and heart weights (P<0.001). There were few effects of the maternal diets on fetal metabolite profiles or on body or placental weights in male and female offspring, but litter size was significantly reduced by the FSD diet (7 vs 14 pups). The data indicate that increased maternal intake of fructose and of salt has marked effects on her metabolism, but the fetus appears largely protected at this stage.