Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2026
Study of In Vivo Glucose Metabolism in High-fat Diet-fed Mice Using Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) and Insulin Tolerance Test (ITT)
Published on: January 7, 2018
Use of a simple liquid meal test to evaluate insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function in children
P C Chandler-Laney1, P B Higgins, W Granger
1Departments of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Insights
A novel liquid meal test accurately assesses insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function in children, offering a less invasive alternative to traditional methods for metabolic disease risk assessment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Metabolic Health
- Clinical Diagnostics
Background:
- Assessing insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function is crucial for metabolic disease risk evaluation.
- Current methods are often invasive and challenging for young children.
- A less invasive, meal-based approach is needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate a liquid meal test against the gold standard insulin-modified frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIGT).
- To correlate insulin sensitivity from both tests with body composition and metabolic markers.
- To examine the relationship between beta-cell function indices and adiposity.
Main Methods:
- Forty-seven children (7-12 years) completed both a liquid meal test and an FSIGT.
- Insulin sensitivity indices (SI-meal, SI-FSIGT) were calculated.
- Associations with body composition, lipids, fasting glucose/insulin, and adiposity measures were analyzed.
Main Results:
- SI-meal strongly correlated with SI-FSIGT (r=0.63; P<0.001).
- Both SI-meal and SI-FSIGT associated with adiposity.
- SI-meal showed associations with triglycerides and fasting insulin, independent of confounders.
Conclusions:
- A liquid meal test is a valid and sensitive tool for assessing pediatric insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function.
- This method provides a less invasive alternative for evaluating metabolic health in children.
- The findings support the use of meal-based tests in pediatric metabolic research and clinical practice.
Abstract:
Insulin sensitivity and β-cell function are useful indices of metabolic disease risk but are difficult to assess in young children because of the invasive nature of commonly used methodology. A meal-based method for assessing insulin sensitivity and β-cell function may at least partially alleviate concerns. The objectives of this study were to: (i) determine the association of insulin sensitivity assessed by liquid meal test with that determined by an insulin-modified frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIGT); (ii) examine the association of insulin sensitivity derived from each test with measures of body composition, fat distribution and metabolic health (lipids, fasting insulin and glucose, and surrogate indices of insulin sensitivity); and (iii) examine the associations of indices of β-cell function derived from each test with total and regional adiposity. Forty-seven children (7-12 years) underwent both a liquid meal test and an FSIGT. The insulin sensitivity index derived from the meal test (SI-meal) was positively associated with that from the FSIGT (SI-FSIGT; r = 0.63; P < 0.001), and inversely with all measures of insulin secretion derived from the meal test. Both SI-meal and SI-FSIGT were associated with measures of total and regional adiposity. SI-meal, but not SI-FSIGT, was associated with triglycerides and fasting insulin, after adjusting for ethnicity, gender, pubertal stage and fat mass. Basal insulin secretion measured during the meal test was positively associated with all measures of adiposity, independent of insulin sensitivity. In conclusion, a liquid meal offers a valid and sensitive means of assessing insulin sensitivity and β-cell responsivity in young children.
