Influence of short-term hyperenergetic, high-fat feeding on appetite, appetite-related hormones, and food reward in healthy men

Short-term overfeeding may provoke compensatory appetite responses to correct the energy surplus. However, the initial time-course of appetite, appetite-related hormone, and reward-related responses to hyperenergetic, high-fat diets (HE-HFD) are poorly characterised. Twelve young healthy men consumed a HE-HFD (+50% energy, 65% fat) or control diet (36% fat) for seven days in a randomised crossover design. Mean appetite perceptions were determined during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) before and after each diet. Fasted appetite perceptions, appetite-related hormones, and reward parameters were measured pre-diet and after 1-, 3-and 7-days of each diet. The HE-HFD induced a pre-to-post diet suppression in mean appetite during the OGTT (all ratings p ≤ 0.058, effect size (d) ≥ 0.31), and reduced the preference for high-fat vs. low-fat foods (main effect diet p = 0.036, d = 0.32). Fasted leptin was higher in the HE-HFD than control diet (main effect diet p < 0.001, d = 0.30), whilst a diet-by-time interaction (p = 0.036) revealed fasted acylated ghrelin was reduced after 1-, 3-and 7-days of the HE-HFD (all p ≤ 0.040, d ≥ 0.50 vs. pre-diet). Appetite perceptions and total peptide YY in the fasted state exhibited similar temporal patterns between the diets (diet-by-time interaction p ≥ 0.077). Seven days of high-fat overfeeding provokes modest compensatory changes in subjective, hormonal, and reward-related appetite parameters.