Premeal Low-Fat Yogurt Consumption Reduces Postprandial Inflammation and Markers of Endotoxin Exposure in Healthy Premenopausal Women in a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized controlled trial
PubMed 29767743 · doi:10.1093/jn/nxy046
What was done
A randomized controlled trial evaluated 120 healthy premenopausal women, stratified into obese (BMI 30–40 kg/m², n = 60) and nonobese (BMI 18.5–27 kg/m², n = 60) cohorts. Participants were randomly assigned to consume 339 g/day of low-fat yogurt or 324 g/day of an isocaloric, macronutrient-matched soy pudding control for 9 weeks (n = 30 per group: YN, YO, CN, CO). At baseline (week 0) and week 9, participants consumed a premeal portion of yogurt (226 g) or soy pudding (216 g) followed by a high-fat, high-carbohydrate test meal (56–60 g fat, 82 g carbohydrate, 28–30 g protein). Plasma markers including soluble CD14 (sCD14), lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), LPS activity, IL-6, glucose, triglycerides, and insulin were measured hourly over a 4-hour postprandial period.
What was found
At week 0, premeal yogurt prevented the postprandial decrease in sCD14 net incremental area under the curve (net iAUC) by 72% in obese individuals (P = 0.0323). Both nonobese and obese yogurt groups had ≥40% lower net iAUC of the LBP-to-sCD14 ratio and plasma IL-6 concentrations compared to their respective control groups (P < 0.05). Obese controls displayed postprandial hyperglycemia that was absent in the obese yogurt group, while nonobese yogurt consumers showed 57% less postprandial hypoglycemia than nonobese controls (P-interaction = 0.0013). Following 9 weeks of daily consumption, the ΔAUC of LBP-to-sCD14 ratios in the yogurt groups remained less than half that of the control groups (P = 0.0093).
Why it matters
This study demonstrates that premeal consumption of low-fat yogurt attenuates acute postprandial inflammation and circulating markers of endotoxin exposure in both obese and nonobese women, identifying a simple dietary strategy to modulate postprandial dysmetabolism.
Limits
The study was limited to healthy premenopausal women (n = 30 per arm), preventing generalization to men, postmenopausal women, or individuals with metabolic disease. The control intervention was soy pudding, which matched macronutrients and calories but differed in micro-ingredients, dairy matrix, and probiotic content. Hard clinical cardiovascular outcomes were not evaluated.
Cited by
- supports Food ingestion triggers a transient postprandial inflammatory response accompanied by low-grade endotoxin release across the gut barrier into the bloodstream.