Racial differences in adipocyte size and relationship to the metabolic syndrome in obese women.

Objective: To determine whether racial differences exist in the relationship of the abnormalities defining the metabolic syndrome (MS) to regional adiposity and fat cell size (FCS) in obese postmenopausal women.

Research Methods And Procedures: We determined the relationship of metabolic variables associated with the MS to regional body composition and abdominal (ABD) and gluteal (GLT) FCS in 25 white (CAU) and 25 African-American (AF-AMER) older women matched for age (58 +/- 5 years; mean +/- SD) and BMI (35 +/- 4 kg/m2).

Results: MS was present in 36% of the AF-AMER and 57% of the CAU women.

Effect of orosensory stimulation on postprandial thermogenesis in humans.

This study assessed the effects of orosensory stimulation by equipalatable stimuli that differed in macronutrient content (lipid and carbohydrate) on postprandial thermogenesis. Sixteen healthy, normal-weight adults (eight males, eight females) participated in six test sessions conducted weekly. The test sessions were administered randomly after overnight fasts and included: ingestion of 50 g of butter in capsules (to avoid oral stimulation with lipids) and 500 ml of water in 15 min followed by no oral stimulation or oral stimulation with a cracker or one of the following foods on a cracker-butter, unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) margarine, jelly, UFA margarine+jelly.