CRP and Obesity: As obesity is a recognised low degree chronic inflammatory state, and inflammation is known to activate hepcidin production and secretion (Wang & Babitt, 2016), we explored the serum levels of 8 inflammation‐related markers and found an upward trend in some pro‐inflammatory markers (Table 3), with a statistically significant increase in C‐reactive protein (CRP) in obese dams (Fig. 5F).