Abstract
To investigate the influence of fat-feeding dams and weaning pups on preferential intake of high-fat diet (HFD) with cellulose added to maintain the same energy concentration as low-fat diet (LFD), each three groups of dams were fed LFD, control diet (CTD) or HFD, respectively during pregnancy and lactation. After weaning, pups nursed by dams fed LFD and HFD were placed on self-selection regimen of LFD and HFD, and pups nursed by dams fed CTD were divided into two groups and were fed either LFD or HFD for 4 weeks. All pups fed LFD or HFD were placed on self-selection regimen of LFD and HFD for 4 weeks. Immediately after weaning, ratio of HFD intake [HFD intake (g)/total intake (g)] for pups nursed by dams fed LFD and HFD was 75 - 80%. Although pups nursed by dams fed HFD continued to eat the same ratio of HFD, the ratio for pups nursed by dams fed LFD was rapidly decreased to 20% on week 3 and 4 after weaning. However, the ratio for both groups of pups nursed by dams fed CTD was about 25% during self-selection period. These findings indicated that (1) HFD preference of pups nursed by dams fed HFD was higher than that of pups fed HFD after weaning, (2)HFD intake of pups after weaning did not affect HFD preference of pups nursed by dams fed CTD and they would be deprived of their ability to eat adequately.
