Table 1 Similarity of the effects of starvation and carbohydrate restriction on fatty acid flux and oxidation

Study/subjects Glucose (mg/dl) Ref: [62] High CHO control High Fat Ref: [65] Fast 84 h Fast + Lipid 91.8 91.8 77.4 68 66 FA (mol/l) 0.38 0.42 0.75 0.92 1.02 0.90 1.25 1.83 1.94 1.67 Rox Ra FA - (ROX + RaFA)

(mol/kg/min) 1.52 1.76 2.98 0.97 1.00 2.42 3.01 4.81 2.91 2.67

Table 2 The effect of glucose flux on calculated TAG flux

Ra(glucose) (mol/kg/min) Basal 5.6 22.2 44.4 fat oxidation (mol/kg/min) 3.74 3.14 3.48 1.99 Ra FA (mol/kg/min) 5.78 4.96 3.25 2.43 SUM 9.52 8.10 6.73 4.42 SUM 1.42 2.79 5.10

Figure 3 Effect of insulin on fatty acid flux. Free fatty acid appearance in plasma R(a) were examined in healthy humans infused intravenously with insulin. Data from reference [46]. Units converted for comparison to figure 5.

Click on image to enlarge

Figure 4 Weight change and food intake of the FIRKO mouse. Data from reference [71, 88] Adipose-specific insulin receptor knockout (FIRKO) mice have normal or increased food intake but are protected from obesity.

Figure 5 Effect of diet on serum insulin concentration. Mean serum insulin concentration before (red) and after (blue) 5 weeks on a reduced carbohydrate diet (CHO:Lipid:Protein = 20:50:30) using a randomized crossover design with a 5-week washout period. Data from reference [72]. The control diet was (55:30:15). As noted in the text, the insulin values are in the linear range of the dependence of fatty acid flux on insulin and the pattern roughly proportional to the flux of fatty acid. Table 3 Effect of overexpression of PEPCK of starved mice on feeding
Starved mice PEPCK activity (%) (J2) pyruvate -> glycerol (cpm/mg prot/2 hr) 300 (J1) FA reesterification (mmol/mg prot/2 hr) J1/J2(mmol/cpm) FAT PAD Wt. (mg) Food consumed mg SE

control

100

300

1.0

400

3.3 0.1

Starved mice

PEPCK activity (%)

(J2) pyruvate -> glycerol (cpm/mg prot/2 hr) 650 750

(J1) FA reesterification (mmol/mg prot/2 hr)

J1/J2(mmol/cpm)

FAT PAD Wt. (mg)

Food consumed mg SE

heteroPEPCK homoPEPCK

400 1300

550 620

1.18 1.21

800 1500

3.2 0.1 3.4 0.1