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Glucose Tolerance in Response to a High‐Fat Diet Is Improved by a High‐Protein Diet
Author(s) -
Honors Mary A.,
Hargrave Sara L.,
Kinzig Kimberly P.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1038/oby.2011.297
Subject(s) - endocrinology , medicine , glycemic , insulin resistance , overweight , diet induced obese , body weight , obesity , weight loss , protein diet , glucose tolerance test , insulin
Consumption of a high‐fat (HF) diet results in insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Weight loss is often recommended to reverse these metabolic alterations and the use of a high‐protein (HP), low‐carbohydrate diet is encouraged. In lean rats, consumption of a HP diet improves glycemic control. However, it is unknown whether this diet has a similar effectiveness in rodents with impaired glucose tolerance. Rats were fed a HF or a chow (CH) diet for 6 weeks and then switched to a HP diet or a CH or pair‐fed (PF) to the amount of kcals consumed per day by the HP group. Following the diet switch, body weight gain was attenuated as compared to HF rats, and similar between HP, CH, and PF rats. Despite similar weight progression, HP and PF rats had a significant decrease in body fat after 2 weeks, as compared to HF rats. In contrast, CH rats did not show this effect. Glucose tolerance was attenuated more quickly in HP rats than in CH or PF rats. These results indicate that a HP diet may be more effective than a balanced diet for improving glycemic control in overweight individuals.