| Summary: | Exercise and dietary carbohydrate restriction during pregnancy independently reduce maternal weight gain and offspring survival. It was hypothesized that the combined stress of exercise and dietary carbohydrate restriction would decrease offspring survival more than the independent effects. Within the exercise and sedentary groups pregnant rats were randomly assigned to be fed either 60%, 40%, or 20% dietary carbohydrate ad libitum. No statistical interactions were found between exercise and diet. Main effects were found for litter weight, maternal feed intake and weight gain, but not for litter size, pup birthweight, or pup survival in the first two days postpartum. Exercised rats gained less weight and ate more on a per gram body weight basis than sedentary rats. Rats fed carbohydrate restricted diets ate less and gained less weight than the rats fed 60% carbohydrate. These results demonstrate that the neonatal rat is not vulnerable to the effects of moderate maternal exercise and carbohydrate restriction during pregnancy.
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