The Effect of Different States of Lipid in Food on Glycaemia, Lipaemia and Insulinaemia.

The study will have a randomized, non-blinded, crossover design. This study will explicitly compare the effects of different forms of fat (liquid and solid) on glucose, insulin and lipid response on 20 healthy male participants between the age of 21-40 years. In addition, this study aims to test the lipidemic effects of the use of vegetable oil as a substitute in the application for making chocolate confectionery.

All potential participants will be asked to attend four testing sessions and a screening session in total. During the first screening session, participants will receive an informed consent form and given ample time to go through it and rectify any queries they have. If they decide to take part in the study, they will be asked to sign the informed consent form. They will then be asked to complete a screening questionnaire, baseline measurements including anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose will be collected from each participant in order to determine their eligibility. During the test sessions, participants' glycaemic, insulinaemic and lipaemic responses to the test meals will be measured. The test duration for each session will be 6.5 hours. Participants will be instructed to avoid strenuous physical activity for at least 3 days and avoid caffeine and alcohol consumption for at least 1 day prior to visiting the CNRC for their study trials. Participants will be provided with a standardized dinner meal (consisting of rice/noodles, vegetables, meat, drink/pudding) and to refrain from alcohol and exercise the day before their testing sessions.

Screening questionnaire: The screening questionnaire will include contact information, demographic and general health details. This information will be used to determine whether the participant is eligible for the study, as well as to check for any possible confounders that may influence the study outcomes.

Anthropometric measurements: Body weight and body composition will be measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Height will be measured using a stadiometer in order to calculate participants' BMI. Blood pressure will also be measured. All measurements will be taken in duplicate during the screening session. Waist circumference will be measured at the minimum circumference between the iliac crest and the rib cage. Hip circumference will be measured at the maximum protuberance of the buttocks. Biceps and triceps skinfold measurements will also be taken. Blood pressure will be measured using an Omron blood pressure monitor (Model HEM-907) at baseline. Participants will be seated for five minutes before blood pressure is measured. Measurements will be taken in duplicate and the averaged results will be recorded.

Blood collection: Participants will be asked to attend the testing sessions after an overnight fast of ten hours. At the beginning of the testing session, a cannula will be inserted into participants' arms. One fasting blood sample will be collected by venous cannulation. 3 milliliters (ml) of venous blood will be collected into Vacutainers® (Belton Dickinson Diagnostics) containing disodium EDTA for the analyses of plasma triglyceride, glucose and insulin concentrations. Participants will then consume treatment meal within 15 minutes. Blood samples will be taken at baseline, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, 330 and 360 minutes. The amount of blood that will be collected at every time point will be approximately 3ml. A maximum of 15 blood samples will be collected by cannulation. A total of 180ml of blood will be taken for the study. Glycaemic, insulinaemic, and lipaemic responses will be determined using the method described by Wolever and Jenkins. The area under the curve will be determined as the area of those increments above baseline only.