EFFECT OF PREVIOUS STARVATION ON THE RESPONSE OF PLASMA LIPIDS AND FREE FATTY ACIDS TO A FAT MEAL*

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
When 6 normal subjects who had fasted overnight were fed a meal containing 60 g of fat but no carbohydrate, the plasma free fatty acids (FFA) increased slightly but consistently in all subjects within 5 hr. after the meal. A period of starvation of from 2 to 7 days[image] duration caused an increase in plasma FFA concentration from an average of 0.38 after an overnight fast to an average of 1.85 meq/1 at the end of the fast. Variable increases in concentration of serum cholesterol and triglyceride were also noted. A meal identical in composition to the control meal was given as the first meal terminating the starvation. In contrast to the control meal, this meal was followed by an abrupt decrease in the elevated concentrations of plasma FFA for 5 subjects. The present study thus reports a marked fall in FFA when a fat meal follows a period of starvation. This is in contrast to the small alterations in FFA following a fat meal after usual alimentation, and is a manifestation of the adaptive changes occurring during starvation and indicative of increased efficiency of fat metabolism.