Associations between dietary insulin load with cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory parameters in elderly men: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Given the limited research on dietary insulin load (DIL), we examined DIL in relation to cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers in elderly men. For the present cross-sectional study, we recruited 357 elderly men. Dietary intake was assessed using FFQ. DIL was estimated by multiplying the insulin index of each food by its energy content and frequency of consumption and then summing the final value of all food items. After adjustment for covariates, a significant positive association was observed between high DIL with fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels (OR: 7 center dot 52; 95 CI 3 center dot 38, 16 center dot 75; P=0 center dot 0001) and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (OR: 3 center dot 03; 95 CI 1 center dot 54, 5 center dot 94; P=0 center dot 001). However, there was no association between high DIL and BMI (OR: 1 center dot 43; 95 CI 0 center dot 75, 2 center dot 75; P=0 center dot 27), serum TAG level (OR: 0 center dot 82; 95 CI 0 center dot 26, 2 center dot 59; P=0 center dot 73), HDL-cholesterol (OR: 2 center dot 03; 95 CI 0 center dot 79, 5 center dot 23; P=0 center dot 13) and fibrinogen (OR: 1 center dot 57; 95 CI 0 center dot 80, 3 center dot 06; P=0 center dot 18). Overall, elderly men with high DIL had higher FBS and hs-CRP levels than those with low DIL. Future studies are needed to clarify the association between DIL and other cardiovascular risk factors in both men and women.