A single puffin chick, or puffling, is raised in an underground burrow and parent birds are often seen with their parrot-like bills packed full of sand eels, intended for their fast-growing offspring.
Offspring of stressed WL were also more competitive and grew faster than offspring of non-stressed parents.
For example, at disturbed sites fewer individuals are able to reproduce, but those that are reproductively active may produce more viable and faster growing offspring.
These findings are consistent with our earlier report of enhanced responses of NPY signaling to fasting in offspring of obese dams at weaning [30].
It has been suggested that faster developing offspring may trigger earlier parturition (Bourdon and Brinks, 1982), which could explain the negative association between metabolism and gestation duration in this species, if females with a higher metabolic rate produce faster developing offspring.
In one study, there was no strong evidence of an association of gestational diabetes (n = 95) with offspring fasting glucose, but positive associations with fasting insulin and insulin resistance were observed (17).
Consistent with our findings, several studies have found a relationship between maternal fasting glucose and offspring's birth weight [ 12, 23, 24], and both maternal fasting glucose [ 7] and 2-hour glucose [ 25] have been associated with neonatal adiposity.
Our results suggest that maternal diabetes in pregnancy (existing or gestational) is associated with greater offspring fasting glucose in adolescence and maternal hyperglycemia (as indicated by glycosuria) is associated with greater offspring fasting insulin in adolescence.
This study was undertaken to assess the prevalence, characteristics of fasting behaviours and offspring health outcomes in Asian and Asian British Muslim women within a UK birth cohort.
Existing diabetes and gestational diabetes were associated with higher offspring fasting glucose levels (0.24 mmol/L [95% CI 0.03 0.45] and 0.20 mmol/L [0.02 0.39], respectively).
