Research

Macro partitioning

Consuming a high-fat dinner (60% fat) results in significant positive fat balance and metabolic inflexibility, whereas a low-fat dinner (20% fat) results in fat balance near zero, indicating metabolic flexibility.

If you eat a high-fat dinner, your body may store that fat rather than burning it, leading to a positive fat balance overnight. If you eat a lower-fat dinner, your body is more likely to burn the fat you eat, resulting in zero net fat storage. This suggests that meal composition timing matters for overnight fat balance, especially if you have metabolic inflexibility.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Following the high-fat meal, participants had a RER:FQ ratio above 1.0 (1.061 ± 0.017, P < 0.01), resulting in a significant positive 12-hour fat balance of 376 ± 142 kcal/12 hours... Following the low-fat meal... resulting in a 12-hour equilibrated fat balance (29 ± 76 kcal/12 hours).
David H. McDougal et al. · Obesity · 2020

Why this rating

Small sample size (n=8) and short duration (one night), though the calorimetry method is robust.

Source

A Novel Approach to Assess Metabolic Flexibility Overnight in a Whole‐Body Room Calorimeter

David H. McDougal et al. · Obesity · 2020

DOI 10.1002/oby.22982

crossover · n=8Cited 12×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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