Validation of Western diet on body weight gain (grams) across time. Baseline, weeks 1–4 (prior to breeding), and P22 (weaning). Data expressed as mean ±SEM; n = 8–10 per group. Various symbols are employed (e.g., $, &, *) to delineate differences between groups where *p < 0.05, **p <0.001, ***p<0.001, difference between SD and WD; #indicates differences between SD and EE; &indicates difference between WD and EE.