A novel natural tracer method to measure complex carbohydrate metabolism

While the triple tracer isotope dilution method has enabled accurate estimation of carbohydrate turnover after a mixed meal, use of the simple carbohydrate glucose as the carbohydrate source limits its translational applicability to everyday meals that typically contain complex carbohydrates. Hence, utilizing the natural enrichment of [¹³C]polysaccharide in commercially available grains, we devised a novel tracer method to measure postprandial complex carbohydrate turnover and indices of insulin action and β-cell function and compared the parameters to those obtained after a simple carbohydrate containing mixed meal. We studied healthy volunteers after either rice (n = 8) or sorghum (n = 8) and glucose (n = 16) containing mixed meals and modified the triple tracer technique to calculate carbohydrate turnover. All meals were matched for calories and macronutrient composition. Rates of meal glucose appearance (2,658 ± 736 vs. 4,487 ± 909 μM·kg^-1·2 h^-1), endogenous glucose production (-835 ± 283 vs. -1,123 ± 323 μM·kg^-1·2 h^-1) and glucose disappearance (1,829 ± 807 vs. 3,606 ± 839 μM·kg^-1·2 h^-1) differed (P < 0.01) between complex and simple carbohydrate containing meals, respectively. Interestingly, there were significant increase in indices of insulin sensitivity (32.5 ± 3.5 vs. 25.6 ± 3.2 10^-5 (dl·kg^-1·min^-2)/pM, P = 0.006) and β-cell responsivity (disposition index: 1,817 ± 234 vs. 1,236 ± 159 10^-14 (dl·kg^-1·min^-2)/pM, P < 0.005) with complex than simple carbohydrate meals. We present a novel triple tracer approach to estimate postprandial turnover of complex carbohydrate containing mixed meals. We also report higher insulin sensitivity and β-cell responsivity with complex than with simple carbohydrates in mixed meals of identical calorie and macronutrient compositions in healthy adults.