The effects of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1/insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 administration on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in recreational athletes

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at IGF-1 LR3.

This study aimed to determine the effects of rhIGF-1/rhIGF binding protein-3 (rhIGFBP-3) administration on glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism in healthy recreational athletes.

The homeostatic model assessment (HOMA-IR) was used to estimate insulin sensitivity and indirect calorimetry to assess substrate oxidation rates.

The general linear model approach was used to compare treatment group changes with the placebo group.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 30 men were involved.

PubMed tags the participants as both men and women.

56 recreational athletes (30 men, 26 women).

The following variables were measured before and immediately after the treatment period: fasting lipids, glucose, insulin, C-peptide and glycated haemoglobin.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this IGF-1 LR3 study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind IGF-1 LR3 study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Some men received a placebo instead of IGF-1 LR3, giving a reference point.

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled rhIGF-1/rhIGFBP-3 administration study at Southampton General Hospital, UK.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Athletes, Carbohydrate Metabolism, Carrier Proteins, Insulin, Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I and Lipid Metabolism.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of IGF-1 LR3 in 30 men.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2021 (Clinical endocrinology), a journal based in England.

More context: the IGF-1 LR3 compound page, all human trials.