Elsevier

Nutrition

Volume 41, September 2017, Pages 14-23
Nutrition

Applied nutritional investigation
Hunger and satiety responses to high-fat meals after a high-polyunsaturated fat diet: A randomized trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2017.03.008Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) increased fasting and postprandial peptide YY levels.

  • A diet rich in PUFAs reduced fasting, but not postprandial, ghrelin levels.

  • Subjective ratings of hunger and fullness were not affected by a 7-d high-PUFA diet.

Abstract

Objective

Previous studies have shown that polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) elicit a greater response in satiety after a single-meal challenge compared with other types of fats. The long-term effects of PUFAs on satiety, however, remain unknown. The aim of this study was to determine subjective and physiological hunger and satiety responses to high-fat (HF) meals before and after a 7-d PUFA-rich diet.

Methods

Twenty-six, healthy weight (body mass index 18–24.9 kg/m2), sedentary adults were randomly assigned to either a 7-d PUFA-rich diet (n = 8 men and n = 8 women) or a 7-d control diet (n = 5 men and n = 5 women). After a 3-d lead-in diet, participants reported for the baseline visit where anthropometrics, fasting visual analog scale (VAS) measurements, and a fasting blood sample were collected. Then, two HF meals (breakfast and lunch) were consumed. Postprandial blood draws and VAS measures were collected approximately every 30 min for 4 h after each meal, for a total of 8 h.

Results

From pre- to post-PUFA–rich diet, there was a decrease in fasting ghrelin (P < 0.05) and an increase in fasting peptide YY (PYY; P < 0.05); however, there were no changes in fasting insulin or leptin concentrations. The postprandial response for PYY was higher after the PUFA-rich diet visit compared to baseline (P < 0.01). However, there were no differences in the postprandial response for ghrelin, insulin, leptin, or VAS measures from pre- to post-diet in either the PUFA-rich diet or control (ns).

Conclusion

A PUFA-rich diet consumed for 7 d favorably altered fasting and postprandial physiological markers of hunger and satiety; yet, did not alter subjective ratings of hunger or fullness.

Introduction

Foods that reduce hunger or increase satiety or energy expenditure might be helpful in achieving and maintaining energy balance. Dietary fats give rise to physiological differences in whole-body metabolism with important health consequences, dependent on the amount and type of dietary fatty acids (FAs) being consumed. The increasing interests in incorporating polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) into the diet has been driven by the extensive literature indicating that these dietary PUFAs promote health and prevent disease [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. Diets rich in PUFAs have been associated with reduced food intake, increased energy expenditure, lower body weight and fat mass, or a combination of all in rats, mice, and humans [7], [8], [9], [10], [11]. Additionally, there are a few acute meal challenge studies that show greater satiety with PUFAs than with monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), saturated fatty acid (SFA), or both [10], [11], [12]; however, research on subjective and physiological hunger and satiety responses to longer-term consumption of a PUFA-rich diet is lacking.

Both short- and long-term appetite hormone signals are commonly studied after nutrient ingestion. Ghrelin, a hormone secreted by the stomach, is proposed to have appetite-stimulating effects. Plasma levels of ghrelin are elevated in fasted states to initiate feeding and to decrease after nutrient ingestion [13]. Conversely, peptide YY (PYY) is secreted by the small intestine and colon in response to nutrient ingestion and is purported to have appetite-suppressing effects [14], [15]. Although PYY and ghrelin are thought of as short-term signals, insulin and leptin have both short- and long-term effects on energy homeostasis. Pancreas β cells secrete insulin, which functions to inhibit food intake [16], [17]. Similarly, leptin acts as a satiety hormone and is secreted primarily by adipose tissue as well as in smaller amounts from the gastrointestinal tract [18], [19]. Dietary manipulations that suppress ghrelin levels and increase plasma satiety hormone levels may offer pragmatic approaches for reducing energy intake. Although there have been a few studies that have examined acute physiological responses to high-fat (HF) meals or diets rich in different types of FAs [9], [10], [20], [21], research on chronic consumption of a diet rich in a particular type of dietary FA is lacking. Of the previous acute studies, some have shown that PUFAs elicit the strongest postprandial PYY response [9], [10], [11]. Thus, initial acute studies show the potential for chronic appetite hormone differences based on FA composition of the diet. The purpose of this study was to determine the subjective and physiological appetite responses to two HF meals (breakfast and lunch) before and after a 7-d PUFA-rich diet or a control diet. We hypothesized lower fasting plasma ghrelin concentrations and higher fasting PYY concentrations would be observed after the 7-d PUFA-rich diet. We further hypothesized that consuming the PUFA-rich diet for 7 d would elicit a greater postprandial satiety response (greater ghrelin suppression and higher PYY, leptin, and insulin levels) to two HF meals versus the control diet. Finally, we hypothesized that visual analog scale (VAS) scores for hunger and fullness would correlate to plasma hormone levels.

Section snippets

Study design

This 7-d outpatient feeding study was a randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled, parallel trial that was designed to test the subjective and physiological responses to two HF meals before and after a 7-d diet. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov. The study protocol consisted of a screening visit, a 3-d lead-in diet, a prediet visit, a 7-d feeding protocol (either a PUFA-rich or a control diet), and a postdiet visit (Table 1). For all testing procedures, participants reported

Participants

Twenty-six men and women randomly assigned to either a 7-d PUFA-rich diet (n = 8 men and n = 8 women) or 7-d control diet (n = 5 men and n = 5 women) were included in the final analyses. Participant characteristics from the prediet visit to the postdiet visit are presented in Table 3. Blood lipids and metabolic data have been previously published [24]. In the PUFA-rich diet, there were no significant changes in height, weight, BMI, body fat%, waist circumference, hip circumference, or

Discussion

The aim of the present study was to determine subjective and physiological markers of hunger and satiety to two HF meals (breakfast and lunch) before and after a 7-d PUFA-rich diet. We found that consuming the PUFA-rich diet reduced fasting ghrelin concentrations and increased fasting PYY concentrations. Furthermore, the postprandial response to the HF meals showed a significantly greater PYY response after the 7-d PUFA-rich diet. These findings suggest that the PUFA-rich diet elicited greater

Conclusions

The present findings indicate that consuming a PUFA-rich diet for 7 d favorably alters fasting appetite hormones and postprandial values after consuming HF test meals. Consuming a PUFA-rich diet reduced fasting ghrelin (indicating greater hunger suppression) and increased fasting and postprandial PYY (indicating greater satiety). However, despite the favorable changes in the hormone profile, the PUFA-rich diet did not alter any subjective measures of hunger and satiety. This study offered a

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    This work was supported by the California Walnut Commission. The funding source had no involvement in the study design; collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the article for publication. CMP and JAC designed the research, raised the grants, and coordinated the complete project. JLS conducted the laboratory research. All authors performed the statistical analyses and wrote and critically reviewed the manuscript. The authors have approved the final version of the manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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