Protein or calorie restriction during gestation and/or suckling induces hyperphagia and increases the susceptibility to develop obesity, glucose intolerance and hypertension in adulthood. The mechanisms by which early nutrient restriction affects the normal physiological regulation of feeding as well as to what extent the metabolic programming of hyperphagia contributes to the long-term risk of obesity and insulin resistance remain, however, to be determined. Here the temporal pattern of food intake and the behavioural satiety sequence were investigated in the offspring of Sprague-Dawley rats fed a control (C) or a low-protein (LP) diet throughout pregnancy and lactation. During the first two months of their post-natal life, protein-restricted animals exhibited hyperphagia characterized by a delayed appearance of satiety, an increase in meal size and reduced latency to eat. Protein-restricted pups also exhibited an enhanced expression of the orexigenic peptides Agouti-related protein and neuropeptide Y and decreased hypothalamic levels of the anorexigenic peptide pro-opiomelanocortin. At 8 months, LP rats still consumed larger meals than their control counterparts but they ingested daily the same amount of food as control offspring and exhibited enhanced abdominal fat and increased levels of triglycerides and fatty acids in serum. These observations indicate that the hyperphagia observed in young LP rats results from a decreased action of negative feedback signals critical to meal termination and an enhanced function of the positive signals that initiate and maintain eating. These results also suggest that perinatal malnutrition programmes obesity through a mechanism independent of its effects on feeding behaviour.