Table 2. Body weight gain and cumulative energy intake during different periods of pregnancy and lactation of dams with free access to standard chow diet (Control-dams) or subjected to 20% calorie restricted diet during the first 12 days of pregnancy (CR-dams).

		Control-dams	CR-dams
Pregnancy 1 - 12 days	Body weight gain (g)	41.0 ± 2.5	11.7 ± 2.1 *
	Cumulative energy intake (kcal)	724 ± 64	561 ± 7 *
Pregnancy 13 - 20 days	Body weight gain (g)	70.2 ± 4.7	86.0 ± 5.5
	Cumulative energy intake (kcal)	534 ± 45	604 ± 34
Lactation 1 - 20 days	Body weight gain (g)	22.4 ± 1.6	33.1 ± 3.9 *
	Cumulative energy intake (kcal)	3449 ± 77	3348 ± 78

Body weight gain was calculated as the increase of body weight from initial to final weight for each period, and is expressed in grams. Cumulative energy intake during different periods of gestation and lactation was calculated by adding the total amount of food consumed and multiplying by energy density of the diet (3.3 kcal/g), and is expressed in kilocalories. Results are expressed as the mean ± S.E.M. of 7-10 dams per group. Statistics: *, CR-dams different from Control-dams (p < 0.05; Student’s t-test).