AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 257, Issue 5 1128-R1135, Copyright © 1989 by American Physiological Society
Influence of preweaning food intake on body composition of young adult baboons
D. S. Lewis, H. A. Bertrand, C. A. McMahan, H. C. McGill Jr, K. D. Carey and E. J. Masoro
Department of Physiology and Medicine, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas 78284.
The hypothesis that infant overnutrition increases fat cell number and
promotes obesity in the young adult primate was tested. Newborn baboons
were fed similar volumes of Similac formulas with caloric densities of 40.5
(underfed, n = 8), 67.5 (normally fed, n = 12), and 94.5 (overfed, n = 12)
kcal/100 g formula until 4 mo of age. Afterwards all baboons were fed the
same diet until they were young adults. At 5 yr of age body composition,
mean fat cell size, and total fat cell number were measured. Infant food
intake did not significantly influence body composition or fat cell number
in the 5-yr-old male baboons. Five-year-old female baboons, overfed as
infants, had significantly greater body fat mass, percent of body mass that
was fat, and mean fat cell volume compared with females that were underfed
or normally fed as infants. There was no difference in total fat cell
number between the obese baboons that were overfed as infants and the lean
baboons that were underfed or normally fed as infants. Fat cell number was
not associated with body fat content; males had more fat cells than did
females. These results demonstrate that infant overnutrition in a primate
species promotes obesity in young adult females by increasing primarily fat
cell size and not fat cell number.
