Increased plasma glucose and insulin responses to high-carbohydrate feedings in normal subjects.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Plasma glucose and insulin responses to two different diets were measured in 20 adult nondiabetic men. The diets were isocaloric, and differed in amount of calories as fat and carbohydrate. One diet contained 42% fat and 43% carbohydrate, while the other contained 30% fat and 55% carbohydrate. On the fourth clay of each dietary period plasma glucose and insulin levels were measured before the noon feeding, and hourly for the next 3 hr. The low-fat–high-carbohydrate diet led to postprandial increases in plasma glucose and insulin concentrations. The increase in plasma glucose response was relatively modest, but the high-carbohydrate diet resulted in an approximate 40% increase in plasma insulin response. Since ingestion of a low-fat-high-carbohydrate diet led to increases in glucose and insulin levels, the advisability of recommending such diets as general prophylaxis against the development of atherosclerotic heart disease must be reconsidered in this light.