[Importance of the postprandial phase in human health]

Humans spend more than three-quarters of their lives in the postprandial state. Although the link between metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and fasting lipid and carbohydrate metabolism has been extensively studied and illustrated on the basis of conventional parameters (cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin, etc), it is equally legitimate and important to examine the role of these metabolic parameters in lipotoxicity and glucotoxicity occurring during the postprandial phase. However, studies of postprandial excursions, peaks and 2-hour post-meal follow-up are not sufficient to characterize integrative metabolic responses during the postprandial phase. Studies of the modulation of postprandial hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia, using integrated kinetic monitoring and stable isotope tracers, are of prime importance to highlight the metabolic phenomena underlying lipemic and glycemic responses and to better characterize their long-term metabolic consequences.