PhD defence: Dietary fat - insulin sensitivity and molecular substrate metabolism

Annemarie Lundsgaard

PhD thesis

In the present thesis, insulin sensitivity and molecular metabolism was investigated after three days intake of unsaturated fat (78 E%) under conditions of energy surplus.

The insulin-stimulated glucose uptake was reduced, which was related to an increased fat oxidation rather than defective insulin signaling. Three days high intake of carbohydrates did in contrast increase glucose oxidation, and hence glucose uptake. It was furthermore found that insulin sensitivity was unchanged when healthy subjects ingested an unsaturated or saturated high-fat diet (64 E%) for six weeks, when energy intake matched energy requirements.

An increased uptake and oxidation of fat in skeletal muscle, together with a reduced synthesis of new fatty acids in the liver, contributed to the handling of the high dietary fat load. Hepatic glucose production was notably changed in a non-diabetic direction in both studies under conditions of high fat and low carbohydrate intake. 

2017, 179 pages.

Time

16 June 2017, 14:00

Place

Auditorium 1, August Krogh Building, Universitetsparken 13, DK-2100 Copenhagen.

Opponents

Associate professor Nikolai Nordsborg (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Professor Anna Krook, Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Professor Ellen E Blaak, Maastricht University, Holland.

Supervisor

Professor Bente Kiens, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.