Volume 88, Issue 3, September (2002), pp. 331-332 © The Author 2002
doi:10.1079/BJN2002669

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Nutrition Discussion Forum

The role of de novo lipogenesis in development of obesity in man

Lis Olesen Larsen
August Krogh Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 13, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

Lammert et al. (2000a) reported a marked de novo lipogenesis, both hepatic and extrahepatic, in male subjects overfed with a carbohydrate-rich diet. In that paper (Lammert et al. 2000a), we concluded that de novo lipogenesis was sufficient to account for about 40 % of the increase in fat mass. We were not able to demonstrate any increase in heat production during sleep with time (3 weeks). This paper has directly or indirectly given rise to five contributions in the British Journal of Nutrition. They all discuss the question of energy expenditure related to overfeeding and to de novo lipogenesis, but do not pay much attention to the more important question: does de novo lipogenesis play a role in the development of obesity in man? For many years, one of numerous arguments against the role of de novo lipogenesis has been that it was unlikely to occur to any important degree, because of the considerable energy expenditure related to the synthesis of fatty acids on the basis of carbohydrate. In the following article, I shall comment on the five contributions.