Metabolic Response of Adult Male Offspring Rats to Prenatal Caffeine Exposure

Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance, with recommendations from health associations and regulatory bodies for limiting caffeine consumption during pregnancy being increasingly common. Prenatal exposure to caffeine has been shown to increase the risk of developing abnormalities in lipid metabolism in adult life. We further investigated the effect of prenatal caffeine exposure (PCE) (20 mg/kg of body weight) on the metabolic “reserve” of male Sprague Dawley offspring fed on a high fructose diet in adult life. Male adult PCE offspring were assigned to four groups; Nw and Nf: offspring of control mothers (N group of mothers), having received tap water or high fructose water respectively; Cw and Cf: offspring exposed to caffeine during gestation (C group of mothers) and receiving tap water or a high fructose water solution, respectively. Cf rats presented increased serum triglyceride level, as well as raised systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels, together with extensive renal tissue oedema in adulthood, compared to the other groups (p<0.05 for all comparisons). These findings show further evidence for potential detrimental metabolic effects of prenatal caffeine exposure during adulthood in this animal model.