H. Sasaki, A. Ishibashi, Y. Tsuchiya, N. Shimura, T. Kurihara, K. Ebi, et al. (2015). A 3-day high-fat/low-carbohydrate diet does not alter exercise-induced growth hormone response in healthy males. Growth hormone & IGF research : official journal of the Growth Hormone Research Society and the International IGF Research Society, 25(6), 304-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ghir.2015.07.005

PubMed 26387476

[Abstract]
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of 3 days isoenergetic high-fat/low-carbohydrate diet (HF-LC) relative to low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet (LF-HC) on the exercise-induced growth hormone (GH) response in healthy male subjects.

DESIGN: Ten healthy young males participated in this study. Each subject consumed the HF-LC (18±1% protein, 61±2% fat, 21±1% carbohydrate, 2720 kcal per day) for 3 consecutive days after consuming the LF-HC (18±1% protein, 20±1% fat, 62±1% carbohydrate, 2755 kcal per day) for 3 consecutive days. After each dietary intervention period, the hormonal and metabolic responses to an acute exercise (30 min of continuous pedaling at 60% of V˙O2max) were compared. The intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) contents in the vastus lateralis, soleus, and tibialis anterior were evaluated by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

RESULTS: Serum GH concentrations increased significantly during the exercise after both the HF-LC and LF-HC periods (P<0.05). However, the exercise-induced GH response was not significantly different between the two periods. Fat utilization and lipolytic responses during the exercise were enhanced significantly after the HF-LC period compared with the LF-HC period. IMCL content did not differ significantly in any portion of muscle after the dietary interventions.

CONCLUSIONS: We could not show that short-term HF-LC consumption changed significantly exercise-induced GH response or IMCL content in healthy young males.