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Carbohydrates, glycemic index and diabetes mellitus

Glycemic load effect on fasting and post-prandial serum glucose, insulin, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in a randomized, controlled feeding study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 66, pages 1146–1152 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives:

The effect of a low glycemic load (GL) diet on insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentration is still unknown but may contribute to lower chronic disease risk. We aimed to assess the impact of GL on concentrations of IGF-1 and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3).

Subjects/methods:

We conducted a randomized, controlled crossover feeding trial in 84 overweight obese and normal weight healthy individuals using two 28-day weight-maintaining high- and low-GL diets. Measures were fasting and post-prandial concentrations of insulin, glucose, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3. In all 80 participants completed the study and 20 participants completed post-prandial testing by consuming a test breakfast at the end of each feeding period. We used paired t-tests for diet component and linear mixed models for biomarker analyses.

Results:

The 28-day low-GL diet led to 4% lower fasting concentrations of IGF-1 (10.6 ng/ml, P=0.04) and a 4% lower ratio of IGF-1/IGFBP-3 (0.24, P=0.01) compared with the high-GL diet. The low-GL test breakfast led to 43% and 27% lower mean post-prandial glucose and insulin responses, respectively; mean incremental areas under the curve for glucose and insulin, respectively, were 64.3±21.8 (mmol/l/240 min; P<0.01) and 2253±539 (μU/ml/240 min; P<0.01) lower following the low- compared with the high-GL test meal. There was no effect of GL on mean homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance or on mean integrated post-prandial concentrations of glucose-adjusted insulin, IGF-1 or IGFBP-3. We did not observe modification of the dietary effect by adiposity.

Conclusions:

Low-GL diets resulted in 43% and 27% lower post-prandial responses of glucose and insulin, respectively, and modestly lower fasting IGF-1 concentrations. Further intervention studies are needed to weigh the impact of dietary GL on risk for chronic disease.

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Acknowledgements

Solo Bars was provided by Solo GI Nutrition, Kewlona, British Columbia, Canada. Light Agave Nectar was provided by Madhava Natural Sweeteners, Longmont, CO, USA. This study is supported by the NIH grants U54 CA116847, R03 CA132158 and T32HL007028.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Metabolism and Nutrition, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    S S Runchey

  2. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    S S Runchey, Y Schwarz, K L Breymeyer, C Wang, C-Y Wang, J W Lampe & M L Neuhouser

  3. Department of Oncology, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, USA

    M N Pollak

  4. Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, Nutrition Unit and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Dietary and Chemical Monitoring Unit, Parma, Italy

    L M Valsta

  5. Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente, Portland, OR, USA

    G D Coronado

  6. Department of Epidemiology and Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Nutritional Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    J W Lampe & M L Neuhouser

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Correspondence to M L Neuhouser.

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Additional information

Contributors: JWL, LMV and MLN designed research protocol; YS and KB conducted dietary interventions; GDC and YS recruited participants; MNP’s laboratory performed IGF-1 and IGBP-3 assays; MNP contributed data interpretation. SSR, JWL, MLN, CW, CYW analyzed the data; SSR, JWL and MLN wrote the paper and had primary responsibility for the final content. All authors were involved in the preparation of the final manuscript.The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00622661.

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Runchey, S., Pollak, M., Valsta, L. et al. Glycemic load effect on fasting and post-prandial serum glucose, insulin, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in a randomized, controlled feeding study. Eur J Clin Nutr 66, 1146–1152 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.107

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