PLoS ONE: Sucrose Exposure in Early Life Alters Adult Motivation and Weight Gain - The Diigo Meta page

• 05 Oct 08
  

  see first paragraph of discussion re:science_is_a_method, implications for social policy

  obesity sugar metabolism genome-environment_interaction behavior genetics marketing children development science_is_a_method

  • These results suggest that early, unlimited exposure to sucrose reduces motivation to acquire sucrose but promotes weight gain in adulthood when the cost of acquiring palatable, energy dense foods is low. This study demonstrates that early post-weaning experience can modify the expression of a ‘thrifty genotype’ and alter an adult animal's response to its environment
  • Our findings suggest the window for developmental effects of diet may extend into childhood, an observation with potentially important implications for both research and public policy in addressing the rising incidence of obesity.
  • Efforts to understand the recent rise in obesity focus on discerning the relative contributions of, or interactions between, genetic and environmental factors in adulthood [6], [7], [19], [23], [24]. Developmental contributions and interactions are only recently being investigated and have focused almost exclusively on maternal over- and under-nutrition affecting the fetal or neonatal nutritional environment. Arising from the fetal origins hypothesis, termed the ‘thrifty phenotype,’ first proposed by Hales, Barker and colleagues [25], [26], this work proposes that pre- and peri-natal nutritional status developmentally programs the organism's adult metabolism and energy balance to form a “predictive adaptive response” [27].
  • unlimited access to sucrose early in life reduces motivation to acquire sucrose, but only when work is required to obtain it. When high-sugar/high-fat foods were made freely-available, mice exposed to sucrose early in life preferred and consumed this food as much as non-exposed animals, but in this environment gained more weight than controls. These data provide clear empirical support for the often asserted but rarely demonstrated link between childhood diet and later adult feeding behavior and body weight and suggest that the impact of early diet on adult obesity risk may be contingent upon the adult environment.
  • These results suggest that with a population raised on a diet high in sugar, environmental manipulation of the costs associated with energy-dense foods is likely to be an efficacious obesity-reducing intervention during adulthood.
  • suggests that early experience can alter the incentive motivational processes that determine goal-directed behavior in response to hunger resulting in different behavioral choices and consumption.
  • sucrose-exposure does not effect weight gain when animals eat standard chow. However, differences in energy metabolism and storage may arise in response to chronic food deprivation which may contribute to the observed differences in sucrose-seeking.

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