- Research from University College Cork found that a high fat, high sugar diet early in life caused lasting changes in feeding behaviour and brain pathways in a mouse model, even after the diet stopped and body weight normalised.
- The study also found that targeting the gut microbiome, using a specific Bifidobacterium strain or prebiotic fibres, helped prevent these long term effects when given across life.
- While this is early stage evidence in animals, it adds weight to concerns that childhood food environments can shape later appetite and preferences.
A study from University College Cork suggests that what is eaten early in life may influence appetite and food choices much later on, even when weight appears to recover.
The work, published in Nature Communications, used a preclinical mouse model to explore how early exposure to a high fat, high sugar diet affects feeding behaviour and the brain systems that regulate appetite.
The researchers found that early exposure to an unhealthy diet led to persistent changes in how the animals ate in adulthood.
Importantly, these changes could remain even after the high fat, high sugar diet was stopped and body weight returned to normal. That matters because it suggests some effects may be hidden if we only look at weight as the outcome.
The team linked these behavioural changes to lasting disruption in the hypothalamus, a brain region that plays a key role in appetite control and energy balance.
In other words, the study suggests that early diet can influence the wiring and signalling that help regulate hunger and satiety.
The study also explored whether the gut microbiome could be part of the solution. The researchers tested microbiota targeted approaches across the animals’ lifespan.
One approach used a specific beneficial bacterial strain, Bifidobacterium longum APC1472. Another approach used prebiotic fibres, fructo oligosaccharides and galacto oligosaccharides, often shortened to FOS and GOS.
These fibres are naturally present in foods such as onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, and bananas, and they are also common in fortified foods and prebiotic supplements.
Both approaches helped counteract the long term effects of early unhealthy diet on later feeding behaviour, although they appeared to work differently.
The bacterial strain produced marked improvements while only modestly shifting the overall microbiome profile, suggesting a more targeted effect.
- Ultra-processed foods engineered to be addictive
- High intake of ultra-processed foods linked to higher death risk in cancer survivors
- Ultra processed food linked to bowel polyps
The prebiotic fibre combination drove broader changes in the gut microbiome.
The researchers argue that supporting the gut microbiota from early life could help maintain healthier food related behaviours later on.
They also note the reality of modern childhood environments, where energy dense, nutrient poor foods are widely available and often built into routines and rewards.
This study is not proof of what happens in children because it is based on animals, but it strengthens the case for making healthier foods the default option early in life and for taking the gut microbiome seriously as a potential lever for future prevention strategies.
