Hormonal responses to a fast-food meal compared with nutritionally comparable meals of different composition.
BACKGROUND
Fast food is consumed in large quantities each day. Whether there are differences in the acute metabolic response to these meals as compared to 'healthy' meals with similar composition is unknown.


METHODS
Three-way crossover.


METHODS
Six overweight men were given a standard breakfast at 8:00 a.m. on each of 3 occasions, followed by 1 of 3 lunches at noon. The 3 lunches included: (1) a fast-food meal consisting of a burger, French fries and root beer sweetened with high fructose corn syrup; (2) an organic beef meal prepared with organic foods and a root beer containing sucrose, and (3) a turkey meal consisting of a turkey sandwich and granola made with organic foods and an organic orange juice. Glucose, insulin, free fatty acids, ghrelin, leptin, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol were measured at 30-min intervals over 6 h. Salivary cortisol was measured after lunch.


RESULTS
Total fat, protein and energy content were similar in the 3 meals, but the fatty acid content differed. The fast-food meal had more myristic (C14:0), palmitic (C16:0), stearic (C18:0) and trans fatty acids (C18:1) than the other 2 meals. The pattern of nutrient and hormonal response was similar for a given subject to each of the 3 meals. The only statistically significant acute difference observed was a decrease in the AUC of LDL cholesterol after the organic beef meal relative to that for the other two meals. Other metabolic responses were not different.


CONCLUSIONS
LDL-cholesterol decreased more with the organic beef meal which had lesser amounts of saturated and trans fatty acids than in the fast-food beef meal.
Bray
George A
GA
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. brayga@pbrc.edu
Most
Marlene
M
Rood
Jennifer
J
Redmann
Stephen
S
Smith
Steven R
SR
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D002417:Cattle; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood* / Q000187:drug effects; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D004435:Eating; D005504:Food Analysis; D054439:Ghrelin; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D050177:Overweight / Q000502:physiology; D036361:Peptide Hormones / Q000097:blood; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D014422:Turkeys
D001786:Blood Glucose; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D054439:Ghrelin; D007328:Insulin; D020738:Leptin; D036361:Peptide Hormones; D014280:Triglycerides