Trial reportThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2018
Metabolic Inflexibility Is an Early Marker of Bed-Rest-Induced Glucose Intolerance Even When Fat Mass Is Stable.
Trial report in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Do dietary supplements prevent loss of muscle mass and strength during muscle disuse? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Association Between Adipose Tissue Characteristics and Metabolic Flexibility in Humans: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Exercise attenuates bed rest-induced increases in insulin resistance while α-klotho increases in 55 to 65 year-old women and men.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Effects of 8 weeks of bed rest with or without resistance exercise intervention on the volume of the muscle tissue and the adipose tissues of the thigh.Physiological reports · 2020Trial
- Microgravity-induced changes in skeletal muscle and possible countermeasures: What we can learn from bed rest and human space studies.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Putting the brakes on muscle growth: Myostatin as regulator of disuse atrophy.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Assessing metabolic flexibility in adults under physiological conditions: Effects of dietary fat and exercise in whole-room calorimetry.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- The effects of bed rest on cardiometabolic health: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Effects of bed rest and immobilization on intramuscular and intermuscular adipose tissue: A systematic review.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Is maximal oxygen consumption an appropriate metric for metabolic health?European journal of applied physiology · 2025Review
- The impact of 60 days of -6° head down tilt bed rest on mitochondrial content, respiration and regulators of mitochondrial dynamics.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Human skeletal muscle disuse atrophy has profound and negative effects on the muscle metabolome and lipidome.American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Article
- Development of the MetFlex Index™: associations between cardiometabolic risk factors and fitness using a novel approach with blood lactate.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Inactivity-mediated molecular adaptations: Insights from a preclinical model of physical activity reduction.Physiological reports · 2024Article
- Substrate metabolism in male astronauts onboard the International Space Station: the ENERGY study.NPJ microgravity · 2024Article
- The impact of bed rest on human skeletal muscle metabolism.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Article
- The effect of 60 days of 6° head-down-tilt bed rest on circulating adropin, irisin, retinol binding protein-4 (RBP4) and individual metabolic responses in young, healthy males.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
- Causal link between metabolic related factors and osteoarthritis: a Mendelian randomization investigation.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Effective management of sedentary behavior among Indian university students: An empirical exploration into health-related behavior.Journal of education and health promotion · 2024Article
- Unraveling the intricate connection between dietary factors and the success in long-term space missions.NPJ microgravity · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors at 13 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Context: The effects of energy-balanced bed rest on metabolic flexibility have not been thoroughly examined. Objective: We investigated the effects of 21 days of bed rest, with and without whey protein supplementation, on metabolic flexibility while maintaining energy balance. We hypothesized that protein supplementation mitigates metabolic inflexibility by preventing muscle atrophy. Design and Setting: Randomized crossover longitudinal study conducted at the German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany. Participants and Interventions: Ten healthy men were randomly assigned to dietary countermeasure or isocaloric control diet during a 21-day bed rest. Outcome Measures: Before and at the end of the bed rest, metabolic flexibility was assessed during a meal test. Secondary outcomes were glucose tolerance by oral glucose tolerance test, body composition by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, ectopic fat storage by magnetic resonance imaging, and inflammation and oxidative stress markers. Results: Bed rest decreased the ability to switch from fat to carbohydrate oxidation when transitioning from fasted to fed states (i.e., metabolic inflexibility), antioxidant capacity, fat-free mass (FFM), and muscle insulin sensitivity along with greater fat deposition in muscle (P < 0.05 for all). Changes in fasting insulin and inflammation were not observed. However, glucose tolerance was reduced during acute overfeeding. Protein supplementation did not prevent FFM loss and metabolic alterations. Conclusions: Physical inactivity triggers metabolic inflexibility, even when energy balance is maintained. Although reduced insulin sensitivity and increased fat deposition were observed at the muscle level, systemic glucose intolerance was detected only in response to a moderately high-fat meal. This finding supports the role of physical inactivity in metabolic inflexibility and suggests that metabolic inflexibility precedes systemic glucose intolerance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.