[Examination of the early phase of insulin secretion with 3 successive small overloads of glucose (5 g) in normal and obese subjects].

We studied the E.I.R. in eight normal subjects and fifteen obese ones with three successive small glucose pulses (5 g.) e.v. at 30' interval. In normal subjects the three successive loads gave rise to identical responses for both glucose and I.R.I. Obese could be divided, on the basis of their E.I.R. to the first load, into normal responders (group I), hyper-responders (group II) and hypo-résponders (group III); on the basis of the E.I.R. to the second load, group I could be divided in two subgroups: Ia and Ib. We found an identical E.I.R. to all glucose loads in group Ia; a reduced E.I.R. to successive loads in groups Ib and II. Group III didn't have any insulin response to all glucose loads.