Essential Fatty Acids & Skeletal Muscle Research

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to examine the small effects that meals with different essential fatty acid compositions would have on skeletal muscle fatty acid processing and postprandial insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant obese men. High dietary fat quality may influence skeletal lipid processing and fat accumulation which can thereby modulate insulin sensitivity.

Method

The methods used were a single-blind, randomized, crossover study, with 10 insulin-resistant men who consumed 3 high fat meals a day, which were high in SFAs, MUFAs, or PUFAs. After this fasting and postprandial skeletal muscle fatty acid processing was examined by measuring differences in arteriovenous concentrations across the forearm muscle. Finally, skeletal muscle biopsy samples were taken to assess intramuscular lipid metabolism and gene expression as results of the study.

Results

The study yielded results that insulin and glucose responses after the SFA meal were significantly higher than those after the PUFA meal. Uptake of triacylglycerol-derived FAs was lower in the postprandial phase after the PUFA meal than after the other meals. The study concluded that the PUFAs induced less transcriptional down regulation of oxidative pathways than did the other meals. PUFAs reduced triacylglycerol-derived skeletal muscle FA uptake, which was directly linked to higher postprandial insulin sensitivity, and therefore may be protective against the development of insulin resistance.

Commentary

I think that this study was an excellent experiment to test for something very practical and useful in the future. If this study leads to developing a method to be protective against the development of insulin resistance in people, especially those who are threaten by obesity then this would be a move forward in nutritional medicine. The knowledge gained by researching essential fatty acids and the different chains they form in each different type of fatty acid molecule. I agree with these conclusions as the research seems very obvious and easy to follow. I think the conclusion correlated to the findings of the study and the information is completely relevant. I think the method containing only 10 men was a very small sample size but can still produce direct results from a study like this in which the results are very obvious and clear from biopsy samples.

Citations

Jans, Anneke, Ellen Konings, Gijs Goossens, Freek Bouwman, Chantalle Moors, Mark Boekschoten, Lydia Afman, Michael Müller, Edwin Mariman, and Ellen Blaak. "PUFAs acutely affect triacylglycerol-derived skeletal muscle fatty acid uptake and increase postprandial insulin sensitivity ."The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/95/4/825>