Acute Insulin Secretion as a Predictor of Weight Gain in Healthy Humans

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 67 - 72
• Main Authors: Silver, Robert J., Mehta, Sheena, Soeldner, J. Stuart, Martin, Blaise C., Warram, James H., Goldfine, Allison B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-2006
• Subjects: acute insulin response to glucose; Adult; Blood Glucose; Body Mass Index; Diabetes; Family medical history; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Glucose; Glucose - pharmacology; glucose metabolism; Glucose Tolerance Test; Health care; Humans; Insulin - metabolism; Insulin resistance; Insulin Resistance - physiology; Insulin Secretion; Male; Metabolism; Middle Aged; Obesity; Obesity - metabolism; Predictive Value of Tests; Research methodology; Weight Gain - physiology; United States > US; Massachusetts; California
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1038/oby.2006.9

Objective: We sought to determine the role of the acute insulin secretory response to glucose (AIRg) in predicting weight gain in normoglycemic persons with no family history of diabetes, who are at low risk for development of disease.
Research Methods and Procedures: One hundred five individuals (64 men and 41 women) who underwent measures of weight and AIRg and insulin sensitivity index (SI) by intravenous glucose tolerance test between 1963 and 1983 were surveyed again for weight between 1994 and 1999, with a mean follow‐up of 26 ± 4 years.
Results: Mean change in weight was 8 ± 10 kg. Annualized weight change was calculated as change in kilograms divided by change in year and averaged 0.27 ± 0.04 kg/yr. Dividing the cohort by either median AIRg or median SI demonstrated no association of either AIRg or SI with total or annualized weight gain. Subgroup analysis by ideal body weight or gender did not alter the association. Furthermore, no association between AIRg and weight gain rate was seen within insulin‐sensitive or ‐resistant subgroups, although younger age at entry was associated with greater rates of weight gain.
Discussion: Our data suggest that neither AIRg nor SI plays a role in predicting weight gain in normoglycemic individuals with no family history of diabetes.