Short-term overfeeding increases resting energy expenditure in patients with HIV lipodystrophy

HIV lipodystrophy and other lipodystrophy syndromes are characterized by extensive loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue. Lipodystrophy syndromes are also associated with increased resting energy expenditure (REE). This hypermetabolism may be an adaptive response to an inability to store triacylglycerol fuel in a normal manner.

This study was done to determine whether REE increases significantly after short-term overfeeding in patients with HIV lipodystrophy.

REE was measured in HIV-infected patients with lipodystrophy (n = 9) and in HIV-infected (n = 10) and healthy (n = 9) controls after 3 d on a eucaloric diet and again after 3 d on a diet of similar composition but increased in calories by 50%.

After 3 d of eucaloric feeding, REE was significantly higher in patients with HIV lipodystrophy [33.2 +/- 0.27 kcal/kg lean body mass (LBM)] than for both HIV-infected and healthy controls (29.9 +/- 0.26 and 29.6 +/- 0.27 kcal/kg LBM, respectively; P < 0.01). Furthermore, after 3 d of overfeeding, REE increased significantly in patients with HIV lipodystrophy but not in the control groups (33.2 +/- 0.27 vs 34.7 +/- 0.27 kcal/kg LBM; P < 0.01). Finally, postprandial thermogenesis did not differ among the groups after a "normal" test meal but tended to be higher in patients with HIV lipodystrophy than in healthy controls after a large test meal.

Adaptive thermogenesis in the resting component of total daily energy expenditure and in the postprandial period may be a feature of the HIV lipodystrophy syndrome and may be due to an inability to store triacylglycerol fuel in a normal manner.