A high-glycemic meal pattern elicited increased subjective appetite sensations in overweight and obese women

We examined the effects of variations in postprandial glycemia and insulinemia on subjective satiety in overweight and obese women. We altered the ingestion rate of a glucose beverage to model the postprandial effects of high- and low-glycemic meals. Fourteen women were tested in a within-subjects’ design with two conditions: (1) Rapid, with a large glucose beverage consumed with breakfast and lunch and (2) Slow, with the same volume of glucose beverage consumed in eight portions (one with each meal, and the remaining seven at 20-min intervals after each meal). Meals were identical in the two conditions. Subjective appetitive sensations were measured with visual analog scales before and after meals, and hourly after each meal until 5 pm. Serum glucose and insulin were measured at similar time points. Subjects reported higher ratings of hunger and prospective consumption in the Rapid versus Slow condition at 4 h after breakfast and several hours after lunch. Serum glucose was more strongly correlated with the appetitive ratings in the Rapid than the Slow condition, and explained more of the variance (20–31%) than insulin (2–4%). The results of this study support the glucostatic theory linking dynamic changes in blood glucose with appetitive sensations.