The study, prompted by the large increase in childhood obesity, found that many of the initial effects of over-feeding at an early age remained with rats well into adulthood, regardless of the diet they ate as an adult.

Dr Margaret Morris from the Melbourne researchers have found that over-eating at a very young age can have a long-lasting effect on the body and in particular seems to enhance the production of hormones made in fat and involved in metabolism.

The effects of over-nutrition at an early age also had a big impact on body weight. These rats remained heavier than other rats for a very long time, despite being fed identical diets post-weaning.

Whether the rats were fed a high fat or a normal diet as an adult, the ones that had been allowed to over-eat as babies always remained heavier than other rats on the same diet.

Dr Morris will present more of the group ™s research into the effects of early nutrition at the Australian Neuroscience Society ™s annual meeting in Perth at the end of this month. PhD student, Elena Velkoska, who is investigating the long-term effects of under-eating during the early days of life will also present at the conference.

Ms Velkoska is supported by a National Heart Foundation of Australia postgraduate scholarship. The project also received support from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

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