Early life nutritional programming of long-term weight gain and feed intake in the porcine model
Résumé
We studied the effect of a prenatal and/or postnatal Westem-like diet high in fat, refined sugar, andcholesterol on long-terrn feed intake and growth of piglets. Thirty-two sows and their offspring wereallocated to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a 2x2 factorial design, with 8-week prenatal and 8-weekpostnatal exposure to a Westem-like diet or control diets as factors. From weaning onwards, 4-week-oldpiglets were housed in groups (n=8) of 3 littermates and fed ad libitum. From the end of thedietary treatment onwards, all piglets were fed a standard commercial diet, and followed for 8 weeks.Piglets exposed to the prenatal Westem diet were heavier at weaning than controls. Piglets fed thepostnatal Westem diet weighed less than controls at the end of the treatment and 8 weeks later. Fromweaning to the end of the treatment, piglets fed the postnatal Western diet had a lower average dailygain {ADG), gain:feed (G:F) and average daily feed intake (ADFJ), but a higher energy intake thancontrols. During the 8 weeks following the end of the treatment, piglets fed the postnatal Westerndiet had a 20% decrease in ADFI , but only a 7% decrease in ADG, resulting in a higher G:F. Thus,feeding a high-sugar high-fat diet for only 8-week post-partum can drastically reduce feed intake,and improve feed efficiency in later life.