Ultra-high-fat (~80%) diets: Fat storage, and a delicious analogy.

Fat storage:

Here's a plot of mean (±SEM) plasma insulin concentrations during an oral-glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) when preceded by either a high-fat (▪) or a high-carbohydrate (□) evening meal and during an oral-fat-tolerance test (OFTT) when also preceded by either a high-fat (•) or a high-carbohydrate (○) evening meal.

From Extended effects of evening meal carbohydrate-to-fat ratio on fasting and postprandial substrate metabolism

100g of glucose produces a large spike in insulin concentration and 40g of fat produces no significant spike in insulin concentration. According to Gary Taubes' insulin hypothesis of obesity, in the absence of a significant spike in insulin concentration, fat cannot be stored.

Here's a plot of mean (±SEM) plasma triacylglycerol concentrations during an oral-fat-tolerance test (OFTT) when preceded by either a high-fat (•) or a high-carbohydrate (○) evening meal (from the previous post).

From Extended effects of evening meal carbohydrate-to-fat ratio on fasting and postprandial substrate metabolism

Average plasma triacylglycerol concentration over 0 to 360min is ~1.3mmol/L (~116mg/dL in US units).

Plasma triacylglycerol concentration falls to baseline between 240min and 360min. OGTT's and OFTT's are performed with the subjects at rest for the duration of the test.

Referring to It's all in a day's work (as measured in Joules) , at rest the subject is burning ~1kcal/min with ~95% of it coming from fat, making a fat-burning rate of ~0.11g/min.

At a fat-burning rate of ~0.11g/min, it would take ~360min for plasma triacylglycerol to fall to baseline if the 40g of fat from the OFTT was only being burned and not being stored. As shown above, it only takes ~120min to fall to baseline. Therefore, fat from the OFTT that isn't burned is stored in ~120min in the absence of a significant insulin spike. Q.E.D.

A delicious analogy:

Here's a plot of mean (±SEM) plasma glucose concentrations during an oral-glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) when preceded by either a high-fat (▪) or a high-carbohydrate (□) evening meal and during an oral-fat-tolerance test (OFTT) when also preceded by either a high-fat (•) or a high-carbohydrate (○) evening meal (from the previous post).

From Extended effects of evening meal carbohydrate-to-fat ratio on fasting and postprandial substrate metabolism

The OGTT (100g of glucose) produces a large spike in plasma glucose concentration which lasts for ~210min before returning to baseline. Higher plasma glucose concentrations glycate more than lower plasma glucose concentrations. Average plasma glucose concentration over 0 to 360min is higher with the OGTT than with the OFTT, therefore there is more glycation damage with the OGTT than with the OFTT. Don't regularly consume 100g or more of glucose!

Here's a plot of Mean (±SEM) plasma triacylglycerol concentrations during an oral-glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) when preceded by either a high-fat (▪) or a high-carbohydrate (□) evening meal.

From Extended effects of evening meal carbohydrate-to-fat ratio on fasting and postprandial substrate metabolism

Average plasma triacylglycerol concentration over 0 to 360min is ~1.0mmol/L (~89mg/dL in US units).

Although the plasma triacylglycerol concentration after consuming a high-carbohydrate evening meal is slightly higher than after consuming a high-fat evening meal, the two plots above are essentially flat, indicating that none of the 100g of glucose consumed was turned into fat by de novo lipogenesis (DNL) within 6 hours.

As discussed in the previous post, higher plasma triacylglycerol concentrations are more atherogenic than lower plasma triacylglycerol concentrations. Average plasma triacylglycerol concentration over 0 to 360min is higher with the OFTT than with the OGTT, therefore there is more atherogenicity with the OFTT than with the OGTT.
Don't regularly consume 40g or more of fat!

An interesting study that involved humongous fat consumption was Response of body weight to a low carbohydrate, high fat diet in normal and obese subjects , which used up to 600g of fat/day. It's possible to lose weight on an ultra-high-fat diet, but average plasma triacylglycerol concentrations would have been extremely high. Fasting TG's reduce on an ultra-high-fat diet, probably due to suppression of endogenous TG synthesis by exogenous TG intake.