title: Aspirin potentiates the effect of ephedrine on the thermogenic response to a meal in obese but not lean women.
abstract: The effect of ephedrine (30 mg) and aspirin (300 mg) on the acute thermogenic response to a liquid meal (250 kcal) was investigated in lean and obese women (n = 10 each group). Resting metabolic rate (RMR) was measured prior to each of the following treatments: meal only (M), meal plus ephedrine (ME) or meal plus ephedrine and aspirin (MEA). Eight post-treatment measurements of metabolic rate were made over a total of 160 minutes. Rise in post-treatment metabolic rate was compared to the baseline RMR. Following the M treatment, the mean increase in metabolic rate was 0.17 +/- 0.01 and 0.13 +/- 0.02 kcal/min in the lean and obese groups respectively, with the corresponding rises being 0.21 +/- 0.02 and 0.19 +/- 0.02 kcal/min following the ME, and 0.23 +/- 0.03 and 0.23 +/- 0.01 kcal/min following the MEA. The increase in post-prandial thermogenesis with the ephedrine or ephedrine plus aspirin was significant in the obese group (P less than 0.03 and P less than 0.001 respectively) but not the lean. Furthermore, the post-treatment rise in metabolic rate, following the MEA treatment compared to the ME, was significantly greater for the obese group (P less than 0.05) but not the lean. It was concluded that aspirin potentiates the stimulatory effect of ephedrine on the thermogenic response to a meal in obese but not lean women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, King's College (KQC), Kensington, London, UK.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Geissler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000886:Anthropometry; D001241:Aspirin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001481:Basal Metabolism; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D004809:Ephedrine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004809:Ephedrine; D001241:Aspirin