This article is part of a Special Issue “SBN 2014”. Obesity in women of child-bearing age is a
growing problem in developed and developing countries. Evidence from human studies
indicates that maternal BMI correlates with offspring adiposity from an early age and
predisposes to metabolic disease in later life. Thus the early life environment is an attractive
target for intervention to improve public health. Animal models have been used to
investigate the specific physiological outcomes and mechanisms of developmental …