Little is known about the time-course of the postprandial appearance of macronutrient-induced inflammatory response. Our aim was to investigate the postprandial inflammatory and metabolic response following high fat, high caloric popular meals in apparently healthy participants.
Fifty four apparently healthy normal weight volunteers (BMI of 25.9±0.9) were given two iso-caloric meals with similar amounts but different composition of fats: a meal high in monounsaturated fats (MUFA), and a meal high in saturated fat (SFA). Three main effects and the interactions between them were analyzed: the time (before and 2 and 4 hours following the meals), the meal (MUFA or SFA) and the gender.
The effect of time from the meal on hs-CRP level was highly significant ( p=0.004). The highest responses were observed 2 hours after the meal ( p=0.002). A statistically significant interaction was found between the time and the meal ( p≤0.0001), which reflects the higher increase in hs-CRP values 2 hours after the SFA meal, with no effect by the MUFA meal. The white blood cell counts were affected significantly by the time ( p≤0.0001) however, other inflammatory markers (fibrinogen, IL-6, TNFα, ICAM and VICAM) were not. All the metabolic markers (insulin, glucose, HOMA-R, QUICKI and triglycerides) were affected by the time ( p≤0.0001), with no interactions observed.