Appetite-Regulating Hormones Are Reduced After Oral Sucrose vs Glucose: Influence of Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and Sex

Abstract

Context: Fructose compared to glucose has adverse effects on metabolic function, but endocrine responses to oral sucrose vs glucose is not well understood.

Objective: We investigated how oral sucrose vs glucose affected appetite-regulating hormones, and how biological factors (body mass index [BMI], insulin sensitivity, sex) influence endocrine responses to these 2 types of sugar.

Design: Sixty-nine adults (29 men; 23.22 ± 3.74 years; BMI 27.03 ± 4.96 kg/m2) completed the study. On 2 occasions, participants consumed 300-mL drinks containing 75 g of glucose or sucrose. Blood was sampled at baseline, 10, 35, and 120 minutes post drink for plasma glucose, insulin, glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1)(7-36), peptide YY (PYY)total, and acyl-ghrelin measures. Hormone levels were compared between conditions using a linear mixed model. Interaction models were performed, and results were stratified to assess how biological factors influence endocrine responses.

Results: Sucrose vs glucose ingestion provoked a less robust rise in glucose (P < .001), insulin (P < .001), GLP-1 (P < .001), and PYY (P = .02), whereas acyl-ghrelin suppression was similar between the sugars. We found BMI status by sugar interactions for glucose (P = .01) and PYY (P = .03); obese individuals had smaller increases in glucose and PYY levels after consuming sucrose vs glucose. There were interactions between insulin sensitivity and sugar for glucose (P = .003) and insulin (P = .04), and a sex by sugar interaction for GLP-1 (P = .01); men demonstrated smaller increases in GLP-1 in response to oral sucrose vs glucose.

Conclusion: Sucrose is less efficient at signaling postprandial satiation than glucose, and biological factors influence differential hormone responses to sucrose vs glucose consumption.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02945475.

Keywords: glucose; insulin resistance; obesity; periphery; sex; sucrose.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Figures

Figure 1.

Trajectories for plasma A, glucose; B, insulin; C, acyl-ghrelin; D, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1); and E, peptide YY (PYY) values after glucose (blue) and sucrose (red) drinks. Time point values are expressed as mean ± SD for all participants.

Figure 2.

Plasma A, glucose; B, insulin; and C, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) responses to glucose (blue) and sucrose (red) drinks, stratified by body mass index groups. Values are expressed as mean ± SD.