Female offspring of rat dams fed low boron diets during pregnancy and lactation exhibit signs of the metabolic syndrome during early adulthood: increased body weight, and serum triglycerides and total cholesterol concentrations

To expand on reports from this laboratory that low dietary boron may affect energy substrate utilization, we determined whether low dietary boron during early development promotes manifestation of the metabolic syndrome in adult offspring. Sprague‐Dawley dams were fed either a boron‐low (BL; ~0.1 mg B/kg) or boron‐supplemented (BS; ~3.0 mg B/kg) diet from 75 d prior to breeding (with diet‐matched males) to weaning of pups. Female weanlings (21 d of age) were re‐randomized and fed either the BL or BS diet for 63 d. Beginning at 28 d post weaning, maternal boron deprivation, but not post‐weaning boron nutriture, increased body weight (p = 0.0001) in offspring (215 vs 192 g at 84 d of age). Also, at 84 d of age, maternal boron deprivation increased serum concentrations of triglycerides (0.54 vs 0.47 mmol/L, p = 0.005) and total cholesterol (2.04 vs 1.89 mmol/L, p = 0.004) and decreased alkaline phosphatase (136 vs 124 U/L; p = 0.004). Independent of maternal nutriture, post‐weaning boron deprivation increased serum concentrations of glucose (10.77 vs 10.49 mmol/L; p = 0.001). The findings that a maternal diet limited in boron content (i.e., one low in fruit, nut, vegetable, and legume content) may increase manifestation of some components of the metabolic syndrome in adult offspring, including a 10% increase in body weight, suggests a possible role for boron in prevention of the syndrome.