The energy balance regulation may differ in lean and obese people. The purposes of our study were to evaluate the hormonal response to meals with varying macronutrient content, and the differences depending on body weight.
Methods: The crossover study included 46 men, 21⁻58 years old, normal-weight and overweight/obese. Every subject participated in two meal-challenge-tests with high-carbohydrate (HC), and normo-carbohydrate (NC) or high-fat (HF) meals. Fasting and postprandial blood was collected for a further 240 min, to determine adiponectin, leptin and total ghrelin concentrations.
Results: In normal-weight individuals after HC-meal we observed at 60min higher adiponectin concentrations (12,554 ± 1531 vs. 8691 ± 1070 ng/mL, p = 0.01) and significantly (p < 0.05) lower total ghrelin concentrations during the first 120 min, than after HF-meal intake. Fasting and postprandial leptin levels were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in overweigh/obese men. Leptin concentrations in normal-weight men were higher (2.72 ± 0.8 vs. 1.56 ± 0.4 ng/mL, p = 0.01) 180 min after HC-meal than after NC-meal intake.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that in normal-body weight men we can expect more beneficial leptin, adiponectin, and total ghrelin response after HC-meal intake, whereas, in overweight/obese men, the HC-meal intake may exacerbate the feeling of hunger, and satiety may be induced more by meals with lower carbohydrate content.
Keywords: high-carbohydrate meal; high-fat meal; obesity; postprandial adiponectin; postprandial leptin; postprandial total ghrelin.