Restricting salt during pregnancy may increase the risk of obesity of female offspring once adults. The offspring of rats fed a restricted salt diet had greater obesity indices than those fed a normal salt diet.
The low salt rats had increased retroperitoneal fat mass, higher leptin levels in males and lower leptin levels in females, increased plasma renin activity in males but not females. The researchers theorize that low salt intake during pregnancy could lead to the programming of obesity in adult female offspring.
PMID: 18289603