Abstract
Adverse effects on health mediated by increased plasma FFA concentrations are well established and older individuals are particularly susceptible to these effects. We sought to determine the effects of the amount of dietary fat on increasing the plasma FFA concentrations as a result of "spillover" of dietary fat into the plasma FFA pool during the postprandial period in older men. Healthy, older participants (63-71 y old) were studied in a randomized, crossover design following ingestions of low (LF) and moderate (MF) amounts of [1,1,1-(13)C]-triolein-labeled fat, corresponding to 0.4 and 0.7 g of fat/kg body weight, respectively. Spillover of dietary fatty acids into plasma during the 8-h postprandial period (AUC; mmol L(-1) h) after MF ingestion was 1.2 times greater than that after LF ingestion (2.8 ± 0.4 vs. 1.2 ± 0.1; P < 0.05). The spillover of dietary fatty acids following the MF, but not the LF, ingestion was correlated with the percent body fat (r(s) = -0.89) and percent body fat-free mass (r(s) = 0.94) of the men (P < 0.05). After adjusting to the amount of ingested fat, the spillover of dietary fatty acids in the MF trial was disproportionally higher than that in the LF trial (P < 0.05), but the corresponding postprandial plasma TG responses did not differ between trials. In conclusion, spillover of dietary lipid into plasma is disproportionally increased at higher doses of dietary fat and this response is inversely related to adiposity in healthy men of advanced age.