Effect of glucose ingestion on peripheral glucose metabolism in normal man

This study was designed to determine the forearm exchange of energetic substrates (glucose and free fatty acids) and the carbohydrate and lipid oxidation rates of normal individuals, in the postabsorptive state and after an oral glucose challenge. Seventeen healthy male volunteers were studied after an overnight fast (12-14 h) and during 3 hours after ingestion of 75 g of glucose. The forearm glucose uptake rate reached the maximum at 60 minutes (0.935 +/- 0.098 mg/100 ml of forearm.min), while 114.9 +/- 9.4 and 90.1 +/- 8.4 mg/100 ml of forearm were the total and incremental peripheral uptake of glucose in 3 hours of study, respectively. After the ingestion of 75 g of glucose, an increase in the oxidation rate of this hexose was observed, corresponding to an increment in the basal oxidation of 21.0 +/- 2.6 mg/100 ml of forearm in 3 hours. The arterial and venous plasma levels of free fatty acids decreased significantly after the glucose meal, associated with a decrease in the lipid oxidation rate. In conclusion, the results of this study showed that, in normal subjects after ingestion of 75 g of glucose, 30.3 +/- 2.1 g (40.4% of the ingested load) of this substrate were processed by the skeletal muscle in the body as a whole and 8.1 +/- 0.6 g were oxidized in this tissue during 3 hours.