American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 1, 208-217, Copyright © 1953 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Arleriovenous Glucose Differences, METABOLIC HYPOGLYCEMIA AND FOOD INTAKE in Man

¹ From the Department of Nutrition, Harvard University School of Public Health, and the Medical and Surgical Clinics, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Blood sugar studies were done on six adult human subjects either under "metabolic balance" conditions or when food intake was carefully recorded. Six experimental situations were investigated: (1) constant adequate caloric intake, (2) constant inadequate caloric intake, (3) uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, (4) cortisone administration, (5) low fat diet, and (6) epinephrine administration.

An attempt was made to correlate various dietary regimens, arteriovenous glucose differences (-glucose) and presence or absence of an urge to eat.

In normal subjects, values for -glucose throughout the day generally reflected the previous dietary intake. A submaintenance caloric intake was associated with a small -glucose area and an adequate caloric intake with a normal -glucose area.

Cortisone administration was followed by hyperglycemia but a smaller than normal -glucose area. The effect of cortisone on food intake was interpreted in the light of this finding.

It is believed that consideration of the antecubital -glucose area as an index of glucose assimilation by peripheral tissues permits application of the glucostatic theory to conditions associated with impaired carbohydrate utilization.