News Finding: Researchers and health officials hope that these papers will eventually help rein in the overwhelming epidemic that currently affects more than one-third of U.S. adults.
Paper Finding: the period(s) of hypothalamic neurocircuit development most strongly perturbed by maternal HFD feeding to impair energy and glucose homeostasis in the offspring.
News Context: Obesity during Pregnancy
  
  The current study is the latest in growing series of efforts to illuminate the potential consequences of obesity during pregnancy. Researchers and health officials hope that these papers will eventually help rein in the overwhelming epidemic that currently affects more than one-third of U.S. adults. By pinpointing a critical moment in the child's metabolic programming, the results reveal a developmental stage where proper nutrition is more important than ever.
Paper Context: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 versus all other groups of offspring unless otherwise indicated. the period(s) of hypothalamic neurocircuit development most strongly perturbed by maternal HFD feeding to impair energy and glucose homeostasis in the offspring. Our study not only shows that the lactation period in rodents is most sensitive to the altered developmental environment in response to maternal HFD feeding, predisposing the offspring for metabolic diseases as described before ), but importantly demonstrates that the short exposure to HFD during this distinct developmental phase is sufficient to predispose the offspring for metabolic disorders, at least in part via impairing ARH neuronal innervation of intrahypothalamic target areas.