Enhanced insulin sensitivity in successful, long-term weight loss maintainers compared with matched controls with no weight loss history.

BACKGROUND: Weight gain is associated with deterioration in metabolic health, whereas weight loss improves insulin sensitivity. This study assesses the impact of long-term, successfully maintained weight loss and weight-loss relapse on measures of insulin sensitivity and identifies factors that explain variability in insulin sensitivity. METHODS: Women (20-45 years) were recruited into four groups: reduced-overweight/obese (RED, n=15); body mass index (BMI)-matched controls (stable low-weight, n=19), BMI⩽27 kg m-2; relapsed-overweight/obese subjects (REL, n=11); and BMI-matched controls (obese stable weight, n=11), BMI⩾27 kg m-2. A 75 g oral glucose tolerance test determined fasting and 2 h plasma glucose and insulin. Homeostatic Model Assessment (HOMA-IR) and insulin sensitivity index (ISI(0,120)) assessed insulin sensitivity. Anthropometric measurements, fasting resting metabolic rate (RMR) and respiratory quotient (RQ) were measured. Questionnaires and dietary intake were recorded, and physical activity was measured using accelerometers. RESULTS: RED were more insulin sensitive, characterised by lower fasting (P=0.001) and 2 h insulin (P=0.003) levels compared with all other groups. There were no significant differences in dietary intake, sedentary, light and moderate activity, RMR or RQ in the RED compared with the other three groups. % Body weight (BW) lost (P<0.001), % BW regained (P<0.05), body fat %, light activity (P<0.05, only log HOMA), vigorous activity (P<0.05) and RQ (P<0.01) predicted 61.4% and 59.7% of variability in log HOMA and log ISI(0,120), respectively, in multiple linear regression models. CONCLUSION: This study showed sustained enhanced insulin sensitivity in successful weight loss maintainers compared with BMI-matched controls with no weight loss history. Weight-loss-relapsed individuals were indistinguishable from controls. Weight loss itself was the strongest predictor of improved insulin sensitivity, whereas weight regain significantly predicted reduced insulin sensitivity. Weight-loss maintenance programs are essential to retaining metabolic benefits acquired through weight loss. Being physically active, reducing sedentary behaviour and, in particular, including small amounts of vigorous physical activity significantly predicted improved insulin sensitivity.

Genetic Improvement in Short-Season Soybeans: II. Nitrogen Accumulation, Remobilization, and Partitioning.

Genetic improvement in yield is conditional on surmounting yield-limiting factors. Nitrogen (N) has been considered an important limiting factor to soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yield. The high demand for N by soybean seed was previously considered to lead to early leaf senescence through accelerated remobilization of N from the vegetative tissue. The consequent reduction in photosynthetic capacity was postulated to limit yield. The objectives of the current experiment were to determine the changes in N accumulation, remobilization, and partitioning associated with genetic yield improvement. Two groups of old, low-yielding ('Pagoda' and 'Mandarin Ottawa') and new, high-yielding ('Maple Glen' and 'OAC Bayfield') soybean cultivars of similar maturity were grown in side-by-side trials at the Elora Research Station, Ontario, in 1996 and 1997. Nitrogen and dry matter accumulation in leaf, stem + petiole, roots, and seeds were determined during the growing season. The newer cultivars had higher yields and higher seed N content. Contrary to the postulated association between leaf senescence and leaf N values, neither leaf N concentration nor leaf N content per unit leaf area (at R6) were association consistently with either yield or leaf area duration (LAD). Although most of the N in the seed was derived from N remobilized from vegetative tissue, the newer cultivars with their higher yields and LAD, remobilized no more N out of the vegetative tissue than did older, lower-yielding ones. The newer cultivars were distinct from their older counterparts in their ability to accumulate more N during the seed filling period (SFP). Genetic improvement of the short-season soybeans tested was a consequence of continued N accumulation during the SFP and was not due to differences in the genotype's capacity to remobilize or partition N to the seed.