Maternal high-sweetener diet, such as sucrose, has been associated with an increased risk of metabolic and cognitive-related diseases in the offspring. This study was performed to determine the effect of maternal sweetener intake during gestation and lactation on learning and memory in adult female offspring rats. Twenty-eight female pups from dams fed standard diet (Control-C, n = 10), high-sucrose diet (HS-C, n = 6), and high-honey diet (Ho-C, n = 12) were fed standard diet after weaning and body weight and food intake were recorded once a week for 19 weeks. Learning and memory tests were conducted at week 14 (Y-maze) and 18 (Barnes maze). We found that birth weight of Control-C group was greater than the Ho-C (P < .001). Blood glucose levels of the HS-C group were significantly higher than the Control-C and Ho-C groups. Control-C pups recognized the novel arm of the Y-maze compared with HS-C and Ho-C groups (P < .01). Also, offspring of the HS-C group showed deficient performance in the Barnes test when compared with the Control-C and Ho-C groups (P < .05). These results suggest that dams fed a high-sucrose diet during gestation and lactation favor high-glucose levels and deficient long-term memory performance in adult female offspring rats.
Keywords: Barnes maze; Y-maze; fetal programming; honey; memory; spatial learning; sucrose.