Abstract
Poor maternal nutrition, both restricted-feeding and overfeeding, during gestation can negatively affect offspring growth, body composition, and metabolism. The effects are observed as early as the prenatal period and often persist through postnatal growth and adulthood. There is evidence of multigenerational effects demonstrating the long-term negative impacts on livestock production. We and others have demonstrated that poor maternal nutrition impairs muscle growth, increases adipose tissue, and negatively affects liver function. In addition to altered growth, changes in key metabolic factors, increased glucose concentrations, insulin insensitivity, and hyperleptinemia are observed during the postnatal period. Furthermore, there is recent evidence of altered metabolism in specific tissues (e.g., muscle, adipose, and liver) and stem cells. The systemic and local changes in metabolism demonstrate the importance of determining the mechanism(s) by which maternal diet programs offspring growth and metabolism in an effort to develop novel management practices to improve the efficiency of growth and health in these offspring.