Cephalic Phase insulin Response to Taste Sense Stimulation in Obese Women

Abstract

The aim of th is study is to investigate if there was a cephalic plase insulin response to sensory stimulation created with an oral sweet solııtion in obese wonıen. The study was perfonııed on 16 obese women who had neither endocrinologic nor metabolic distıırbances at Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Internal Medicine Hospital. Blood samples for basal blood sugar, insulin and C peptid levels were taken after an overnight fasting period, and plain water was given to drink. Five minutes later blood samples were taken for the same parameters. This time, a sweet solııtion prepared with an artificial sweetener dissolved in water was iııgested. Five and ten minutes later of the sweetener blood sanıples were taken again. Methods fo r blood sugar, insulin and C peptid were glucose oxidase, RIA and immulite respeetively. Stat i Stic analysis w a s perfonued with Mantı Whitney- U, Student t and Wilcoxon tests in SPSS. Mean values for age, Body Mass lndex (BM1) and waist/hip ratio were 34.94 ± 9.48 years, 33.60 ± 4.29 kg/m-, and 0.80 ± 0.05 cm respectively. There were no signifıcant changes in blood sugar and C peptid levels in response to water and sweet solııtion, where as there was a significant inerease in insulin levels after 5 minutes o f the sweetener (p - 0.008). insulin levels persisted at high levels after 10 minutes of the sweeteııer, but this inerease was not signifıcant from basal levels. There is no eating desire in normal weight people without and physiologic changes accompanied fasting, but in obese people, external factors such as sight, sineli or imagination of food stimulate the desire for eating. inerease in insulin secretion in response to taste sense stimulation found in our study supports this knowlec!ge. We concluded that, insulin resistance may play the majör role on insulin level persisting at high levels after 10 minutes of the sweetener and inıpressed the importance of behavior modification for controlling external factors triggening eating.