Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1522928
This article is part of the Research Topic Endocrinology, Lipids, and Disease: Unraveling the Links View all 8 articles

Postprandial triglyceride levels affecting postprandial thyroid stimulating hormone levels may be responsible for the increased postprandial thyroid stimulating hormone levels in people with reduced lipid tolerance

Provisionally accepted
Peipei Tian Peipei Tian 1Shaojing Zeng Shaojing Zeng 2Yilin Hou Yilin Hou 1Dandan Liu Dandan Liu 1Yamin Lu Yamin Lu 3Guangyao Song Guangyao Song 1*
  • 1 Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
  • 2 Department of Endocrinology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
  • 3 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: In this study, we aimed to explore the relationship between postprandial triglyceride (TG) and postprandial thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels and compare the postprandial TSH levels in participants with normal lipid tolerance and reduced lipid tolerance. Methods: A total of 81 eligible participants were enrolled and given a high-fat meal of 1500 kcal, and blood samples were collected at 2, 4, 6, and 8 hours. Fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting and postprandial TG, triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine (T4), and TSH levels were tested. Based on the postprandial serum TG level, participants were divided into the normal lipid tolerance group (NFT) and the decreased lipid tolerance group (IFT). Results: Postprandial TG levels increased in both the NFT and IFT groups and then decreased over time. A higher and delayed peak of postprandial TG was observed in the IFT group, and there were statistically significant differences in TG levels at each time point in both groups. The area under the curve (TGAUC) was an independent influencing factor for the area under the curve (TSHAUC) of TSH. Postprandial TSH levels in both groups reached a trough at 2 h and peaked at 6 h, with a higher peak in the IFT group. Except for 2 h, TSH levels were significantly different at all other time points. There was no statistically significant difference in T3 or T4 levels between the two groups, with opposite trends for TSH. Conclusion: After a high-fat meal is consumed, the postprandial TSH level is influenced by the postprandial TG level, which may be the reason for the decreased thyroid function in the population with reduced lipid tolerance.

    Keywords: triglyceride1, thyroid-stimulating hormone2, high-fat meal3, oral fat tolerance test4, normal fat tolerance5, impaired fat tolerance6

    Received: 05 Nov 2024; Accepted: 20 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Tian, Zeng, Hou, Liu, Lu and Song. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Guangyao Song, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.