Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Dec 28;17(1):118.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-018-0427-x.

The relationship between the leptin/ghrelin ratio and meals with various macronutrient contents in men with different nutritional status: a randomized crossover study

Edyta Adamska-Patruno  1 , Lucyna Ostrowska  2 , Joanna Goscik  3 , Barbara Pietraszewska  2 , Adam Kretowski  3   4 , Maria Gorska  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The relationship between the leptin/ghrelin ratio and meals with various macronutrient contents in men with different nutritional status: a randomized crossover study

Edyta Adamska-Patruno et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background: Hormones, which influence satiety and hunger, play a significant role in body energy balance regulation. Ghrelin is a peptide that plays an important role in short-term appetite regulation, whereas leptin is a factor that controls long-term energy balance and is considered as a satiety hormone. The aim of this study was to evaluate the leptin/ghrelin ratio in a fasting state and after the intake of meals with varying macronutrient contents and to assess the possible differences between normal body weight and overweight/obese men.

Methods: We examined 46 healthy adult men (23 with normal body weight and 23 overweight/obese) aged 21-58, who were divided into two groups. In the crossover study, participants received isocaloric (450 kcal) meals with different macronutrient contents: men from the first group received high-carbohydrate (HC) and normo-carbohydrate (NC) meals, and in the second group, participants received high-carbohydrate and high-fat (HF) meals. The ratio of leptin/ghrelin levels was calculated from leptin and total ghrelin serum concentrations in a fasting state and 30, 60, 120, 180 and 240 min after meal intake. One-way ANOVA and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were carried out. The normality of the variable distribution was checked with the Shapiro-Wilk test, the homogeneity of variances was verified with the Levene test, and the false discovery rate p-value adjustment method was used.

Results: The leptin/ghrelin ratio was significantly higher in overweight/obese men than individuals with normal body weight in a fasting state, as well as postprandially. We observed trends towards a higher leptin/ghrelin ratio values from the 60 min after HC-meal intake compared to the NC- and HF-meals in normal body weight participants, while in overweight/obese men, we did not note any significant differences dependent on the meal type.

Conclusions: We have observed a significantly different postprandial leptin/ghrelin ratio in normal body weight and overweight/obese men, and our results suggest that in men with normal body weight, a greater feeling of satiety may occur after high-carbohydrate meal intake, which was not noted in the overweight/obese individuals.

Keywords: High-carbohydrate meal; High-fat meal; Leptin/ghrelin ratio; Normal body weight men; Normo-carbohydrate meal; Overweight/obesity; Postprandial state.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was done upon R-I-002/35/2009 approval of the Bioethical Committee of the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects prior to participation in the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study design. HC-meal (high-carbohydrate meal); NC-meal (normo-carbohydrate meal); HF-meal (high-fat meal)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of the leptin/ghrelin ratio between normal body weight and overweight/obese men. The results are presented as mean values ± SE. N1, broken line- men with normal body weight; O/O1, solid line- overweight/obese subjects; HC- high-carbohydrate meal; NC- normo-carbohydrate meal. The comparison between the N1 and O/O1 study groups after HC-meal intake *p < 0.05, and after NC-meal intake **p < 0.05
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison of the leptin/ghrelin ratio between normal body weight and overweight/obese men. The results are presented as mean values ± SE. N2, broken line- men with normal body weight; O/O2, solid line- overweight/obese subjects; HC- high-carbohydrate meal; HF- high-fat meal. The comparison between the N2 and O/O2 study groups after HC-meal intake *p < 0.05, and after HF-meal intake **p < 0.05
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ng M, Fleming T, Robinson M, Thomson B, Graetz N, Margono C, Mullany EC, Biryukov S, Abbafati C, Abera SF, et al. Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2013. Lancet. 2014;384:766–781. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60460-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Khan M, Joseph F. Adipose tissue and adipokines: the association with and application of adipokines in obesity. Scientifica (Cairo) 2014;2014:328592. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guerre-Millo M. Adipose tissue and adipokines: for better or worse. Diabetes Metab. 2004;30:13–19. doi: 10.1016/S1262-3636(07)70084-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Little TJ, Feltrin KL, Horowitz M, Meyer JH, Wishart J, Chapman IM, Feinle-Bisset C. A high-fat diet raises fasting plasma CCK but does not affect upper gut motility, PYY, and ghrelin, or energy intake during CCK-8 infusion in lean men. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2008;294:R45–R51. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00597.2007. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bodnaruc AM, Prud'homme D, Blanchet R, Giroux I. Nutritional modulation of endogenous glucagon-like peptide-1 secretion: a review. Nutr Metab (Lond) 2016;13:92. doi: 10.1186/s12986-016-0153-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types