Carbohydrate intake affects insulin binding to human erythrocytes in normal weight subjects but not in subjects with family obesity.
The effects of different carbohydrate intakes on insulin binding to human erythrocytes were studied in thirty nine obese and twelve normal weight subjects belonging to twelve families with a strong penetrance of obesity("family experiment"), and in nine normal weight subjects with no family or personal history of obesity or diabetes ("diet experiment"). In the "family experiment," the mean insulin binding in obese subjects was significantly lower than in control normal weight siblings and parents. This difference cannot be related to an increase in carbohydrate or caloric intakes, since there was no difference in daily food intake between the obese and the control subjects. In the "diet experiment," the volunteers were studied four times: twice with their spontaneous diet, one with a normocaloric carbohydrate rich diet and once with a normocaloric fat rich diet. Both the carbohydrate and fat rich diets resulted in a significant lowering of binding when compared to the period of spontaneous diet. In the two experiments, the decrease in binding is due to a decrease in the number of receptors per erythrocyte. The possibility of a common underlying mechanism is discussed.
D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007700:Kinetics; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D011972:Receptor, Insulin / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D012016:Reference Values
D001786:Blood Glucose; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D007328:Insulin; D011972:Receptor, Insulin