Metabolic and behavioral consequences of a snack consumed in a satiety state

In view of the influence of dietary habits on obesity, human eating patterns merit study.

We investigated the behavioral and biological consequences of consumption of a 1-MJ snack by subjects in a satiety state.

Eleven lean young men were deprived of time cues and subjected to continuous blood withdrawal over each of 4 sessions scheduled 2 wk apart. The first session was a basal session designed to determine the following in each subject: 1) the amount eaten in an ad libitum lunch; 2) the temporal patterns of plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, fatty acids, and triacylglycerols between lunch and the spontaneous dinner request; and 3) the latency of the dinner request. In the 3 other sessions, each subject ingested the same lunch as in the basal session and a nutritionally well-balanced snack either 5 min before his individual peak of hyperglycemia observed in the first session, 40 min after this peak, or 120 min before the time he had requested his dinner in the first session.

There was no significant difference in latency of the dinner request or the energy intake at dinner between sessions. Insulin secretion increased but glucose profiles did not change significantly regardless of the time of snack intake.

A snack consumed in a satiety state fails to prolong the intermeal interval and would thus tend to favor storage.