Men at increased risk of coronary heart disease are not different from age- and weight-matched healthy controls in their postprandial triglyceride, nonesterified fatty acid, or incretin responses to sucrose.

Short-term studies suggest that extreme sucrose consumption has a detrimental effect on triglycerides (TG) in hypertriglyceridemic people. There is currently no consensus on the short-term inclusion of a moderate intake of sucrose in middle-aged men at increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). It is also unknown whether gut hormones that are released in response to carbohydrate ingestion modulate any of the effects of sucrose. The aim of this study was to further elucidate whether men at increased risk of CHD have an exaggerated response to sucrose compared with age- and weight-matched controls over an acute postprandial period. Twenty middle-aged men were recruited and separated into control (total cholesterol < 5.5 mmol/L) and increased risk of CHD (> 5.5 mmol/L) groups. We measured postprandial TG, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), insulin, glucose, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) concentrations in response to a meal containing 75 g glucose or 75 g sucrose with a moderate fat load. The increased risk group had significantly higher Framingham risk assessment (12% v 4%), TG (2.4 +/- 1.5 v 1.1 +/- 0.4 mmol/L), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) (4.4 +/- 0.5 v 2.7 +/- 0.4 mmol/L), and lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (1.2 +/- 0.2 v 1.5 +/- 0.2 mmol/L) (P <.05 for all). There was no significant difference in the incremental area under the curve (IAUC, 0 to 360 minutes) for TG, NEFA, glucose, GLP-1, or GIP in response to glucose or sucrose within or between the groups. Absolute total area under the curve (not IAUC) for TG was significantly higher in the increased risk group for both glucose and sucrose, respectively (P =.01). A total of 75 g of sucrose given as part of a single meal appears to make little difference in the postprandial TG and NEFA response in men with or without risk of CHD compared with glucose. Although long-term data is needed, this begs the question whether a moderate intake of sucrose has been overemphasized as a detrimental dietary message in middle-aged men.