Selected Grantee Publications

Western-Style Diet Consumption Impairs Maternal Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Metabolism During Pregnancy in a Japanese Macaque Model 

Elsakr et al., Scientific Reports. 2021.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92464-w

Using a Japanese macaque model, investigators assessed the metabolic effects of obesity and a calorically dense, Western-style diet (WSD; 36.3% fat), either alone or together, on maternal glucose tolerance and insulin levels in dams during pregnancy (n = 95 females followed over multiple pregnancies [n = 273]). With prolonged WSD feeding, multiple diet switches, and/or increasing age and parity, WSD was associated with increasingly higher insulin levels during glucose tolerance testing, indicative of insulin resistance. The results suggest that prolonged or recurrent calorically dense WSD and/or increased parity, rather than obesity per se, drive excess insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction. Supported by ORIP (P51OD011092), NIDDK and NIMH.