Two models of intrauterine growth restriction, maternal food restriction (FR), and dexamethasone (DEX) exposure were compared for early postnatal catch-up growth and later development of glucose intolerance and obesity in Sprague-Dawley rats. Mated dams were randomly divided into three groups at 10 days gestational age. Group FR was food restricted (50% of nongestating rats) during the last 11 days of gestation; Group DEX received DEX injections during the last week of gestation, and Group CON, the control group, had no intervention. Birth weight, catch-up growth, body weight, and food intake were measured in male offspring for 22 wk. Body composition, blood glucose, and plasma insulin in response to a glucose load were assessed at 8, 16, and 22 wk. Pups from both FR and DEX dams had similarly lower birth weights than CON (22% and 25%, P < 0.0001), but catch-up growth, which occurred during the suckling period, was much more rapid in FR than DEX offspring (6 vs. 25 days, 95% CI). Postweaning, there were no significant differences between groups in food intake, body weight, body fat, and plasma insulin, but baseline plasma glucose at 22 wk and 2-h glucose area-under-the-curve at 8 and 22 wk were greater only in FR vs. CON offspring (P < 0.05), thereby contrasting with the lack of significant differences between DEX and CON. These results suggest that prenatal food restriction is a more sensitive model than DEX exposure for studies aimed at investigating the link between low birth weight, early postnatal catch-up growth, and later development of glucose intolerance.