The Effect of Meal and Exercise Timing on Postprandial Lipemia

PURPOSE: Since relatively little research is available to assess how strategies that differentially time meal consumption relative to exercise influence the degree of postprandial lipemia (PPL), the goal of this study was to compare postprandial responses to a standardized high fat meal consumed alone (M) versus the same meal consumed in conjunction with exercise (60% of VO2max for 50 min) performed either immediately prior to (EM) or two hours after (ME) meal ingestion. METHODS: Twelve young, healthy male volunteers performed the three trials in random order. Blood samples were drawn after fasting and 1, 3, 5 and 7 hours after the test meal to determine plasma concentrations of triglycerides (TG), glucose and insulin. Blood was also obtained after exercise for the EM trial. RESULTS: The area under the curve (AUC) for TG was 33% lower (p<0.05) for the EM trial in comparison to M, but no difference was detected between ME and M. The glucose AUC for M was significantly (p<0.05) higher for M than both ME and EM. No differences in AUC were detected among trials for insulin responses. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that exercise performed prior to a meal is more effective in reducing PPL than exercise performed 2 hours after the meal and that exercise either immediately before or 2 hours after exercise can diminish overall glucose responses. Strategies that optimally influence PPL should be explored to allow for the most beneficial management of triglyceride metabolism.