Low-protein overfeeding: a tool to unmask susceptibility to obesity in humans

Abstract

In search for an approach to identify physiological targets for therapeutic intervention in obesity management, we have revisited the classic human overfeeding studies of the 1960s, with new emphasis on a ‘subgroup’ of volunteers who were shifted between overfeeding on a typical affluent (normal-protein) diet and overfeeding on a low-protein diet. Following a re-analysis of these data, the arguments are put forward that since low-protein overfeeding is not only a potent stimulus of thermogenesis, but also an amplifier (or magnifier) of the small inter-individual variations in thermogenesis on the affluent (normal-protein) diet, it can be used as a tool to unmask some of the genetic and metabolic basis underlying human susceptibility to leanness and fatness.