High-fat diet elevates resting intramuscular triglyceride concentration and whole body lipolysis during exercise

Abstract

This study determined the role of intramuscular triglyceride (IMTG) and adipose lipolysis in the elevated fat oxidation during exercise caused by a high-fat diet. In four separate trials, six endurance-trained cyclists exercised at 50% peak O₂consumption for 1 h after a two-day control diet (22% fat, CON) or an isocaloric high-fat diet (60% fat, HF) with or without the ingestion of acipimox, an adipose lipolysis inhibitor, before exercise. During exercise, HF elevated fat oxidation by 72% and whole body lipolysis [i.e., the appearance rate of glycerol in plasma (R_aglycerol)] by 79% compared with CON ( P < 0.05), and this was associated with a 36% increase ( P < 0.05) in preexercise IMTG concentration. Although acipimox lowered plasma free fatty acid (FFA) availability, HF still increased fat oxidation and R_aglycerol to the same magnitude above control as the increase caused by HF without acipimox (i.e., both increased fat oxidation 13–14 μmol·kg^–1·min^–1). In conclusion, the marked increase in fat oxidation after a HF diet is associated with elevated IMTG concentration and whole body lipolysis and does not require increased adipose tissue lipolysis and plasma FFA concentration during exercise. This suggests that altered substrate storage in skeletal muscle is responsible for increased fat oxidation during exercise after 2 days of an HF diet.