A dose-response strategy reveals differences between normal-weight and obese men in their metabolic and inflammatory responses to a high-fat meal

Abstract

A dose-response strategymay not only allowinvestigation of the impact of foods nd nutrients on human health but may also reveal differences in the response of ndividuals to food ingestion based on their metabolic health status. In a randomized crossover study, we challenged 19 normal-weight (BMI: 20-25 kg/m2) and 18 bese (BMI: >30 kg/m2) men with 500, 1000, and 1500 kcal of a high-fat HF) meal (60.5% energy from fat). Blood was taken at baseline and up to 6 h ostprandially and analyzed for a range of metabolic, inflammatory, and hormonal ariables, including plasma glucose, lipids, and C-reactive protein and serum insulin, lucagon-like peptide-1, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and endotoxin. Insulin was the only ariable that could differentiate the postprandial response of normal-weight and obese articipants at each of the 3 caloric doses. A significant response of the inflammatory arker IL-6 was only observed in the obese group after ingestion of the HF meal ontaining 1500 kcal [net incremental AUC (iAUC) = 22.9 ± 6.8 pg/mL × 6 h, P = 0.002]. Furthermore, the net iAUC for triglycerides significantly increased from the 000 to the 1500 kcal meal in the obese group 5.0±0.5mmol/L×6hvs.6.0±0.5mmol/L×6h; P = 0.015) but not in the normal-weight roup (4.3 ± 0.5 mmol/L × 6 h vs. 4.8 ± 0.5 mmol/L × 6 h; P = 0.31).We ropose that caloric dose-response studies may contribute to a better understanding of he metabolic impact of food on the human organism. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01446068.