Effects of Short-Term Fasting and Different Overfeeding Diets on Thyroid Hormones in Healthy Humans

Abstract

Background: A greater decrease in 24-hour energy expenditure (EE) during fasting and a smaller increase in 24-hour EE during low-protein overfeeding (metabolic “thrifty” phenotype) predict weight gain. As thyroid hormones (TH) are implicated in energy intake and metabolism, we assessed whether: (i) TH concentrations are altered by 24-hour fasting or overfeeding diets with varying protein content and (ii) diet-related changes in TH correlate with concomitant changes in EE. Methods: Fifty-eight euthyroid healthy subjects with normal glucose regulation underwent 24-hour dietary interventions including fasting, eucaloric feeding, and five overfeeding diets in a crossover design within a whole-room indirect calorimeter to measure the 24-hour EE. Overfeeding diets (200% of energy requirements) included three diets with 20% protein, one diet with 3% protein (low-protein overfeeding diet [LPF]: 46% fat), and one diet with 30% protein (high-protein overfeeding diet [HPF]: 44% fat, n = 51). Plasma free thyroxine (fT4), free triiodothyronine (fT3), and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) concentrations were measured after overnight fast the morning of and after each diet. Results: On average, fT4 increased by 8% (+0.10 ng/dL, 95% confidence interval [CI 0.07–0.13], p < 0.0001) and fT3 decreased by 6% (−0.17 pg/mL [CI −0.27 to −0.07], p = 0.001) after 24-hour fasting, whereas both fT4 and fT3 decreased by 5% (−0.07 ng/dL [CI −0.11 to −0.04], p < 0.0001) and 4% (−0.14 pg/mL [CI −0.24 to −0.04], p = 0.008) following HPF, respectively. Greater decreases in fT3 after HPF are associated with larger decreases in FGF21 ( r = 0.40, p = 0.005). Following LPF, the mean fT3 increased by 6% (+0.14 pg/mL [CI 0.05–0.2], p = 0.003) with no change in fT4 ( p = 0.7). No changes in TH were observed after normal-protein overfeeding diets (all p > 0.1). No associations were observed between TH concentrations and diet-related changes in 24-hour EE during any diet (all p > 0.07). Conclusions: Acute (200%) short-term (24 hours) changes in food intake induce small changes in TH concentrations only after diets with low (0% fasting and 3% protein overfeeding) or high (30% protein overfeeding) protein content. The fT3-FGF21 association after high-protein overfeeding suggests a role for TH in inhibiting FGF21 secretion by the liver during protein excess. These results indicate that TH are involved in protein metabolism; however, they do not mediate the short-term EE response to diets that characterize the metabolic phenotypes and determine the individual susceptibility to weight gain.