Satiety power of dietary fat: a new appraisal

Accumulating evidence suggest that a good way to compare the satiety power of meals with different compositions or energy contents is to measure the onset latency of the next meal when freely requested by subjects deprived of any time cues. This study was performed in normal-weight young men (aged 19-24 y) isolated from time cues. At sessions 1 and 2, we studied the effects of two high-carbohydrate pasta lunchs with either 50 g low-energy butter substitute (lunch A) or 50 g butter (lunch B) on hunger ratings, on the latency of the dinner request, and on energy and nutrient intakes at the offered ad libitum dinner. Sessions 3 and 4 were designed to examine the effects of the two lunchs on the postlunch and predinner profiles of plasma glucose, insulin, glucagon, and lipids; consequences on the metabolic and hormonal responses to the fixed dinner offered on request also were tested. The addition of 1588 kJ butter to the pasta lunch compared with the addition of 67 kJ butter substitute had no effect on hunger ratings but significantly delayed the onset of dinner by approximately 38 min; however, neither energy intake nor nutrient intakes were different. The high-fat lunch led to a slightly different postlunch plasma glucose concentration profile but, as expected, to higher plasma triacylglycerol and fatty acid concentrations. The high-fat lunch also led to postdinner glucose intolerance with normal insulin and high fatty acid concentrations that may help explain the partial and delayed adjustment in energy intake after a high-fat meal as reported by some studies.