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Abstract

High Dietary Magnesium Intake is Significantly and Independently Associated with Higher Insulin Sensitivity in a Mexican-Mestizo Population: A Brief Cross-Sectional Report

VOLUME 69 - NUMBER 1 / January - February (Original articles)  doi: 10.24875/RIC.17002086

Carlos Moctezuma-Velázquez, Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico
Miguel Ángel Gómez-Sámano, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico
María Belén Cajas-Sánchez, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Diana Lorena Reyes-Molina, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Mariana Galindo-Guzmán, Department of Internal Medicine, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico
Clara-Elena Meza-Arana, Department of Internal Medicine, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico
Daniel Cuevas-Ramos, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico
Francisco J. Gómez-Pérez, Deparment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán (INCMNSZ), Mexico City, Mexico
Alfonso Gulias-Herrero, Department of Internal Medicine, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico

Background: Magnesium acts as a cofactor in many intracellular reactions including phosphorylation of the insulin receptor; therefore, its imbalance can potentially cause insulin resistance. Low serum magnesium concentration has been associated with the development of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Objective: To study the association between the daily dietary magnesium intake and insulin resistance estimated by the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance and homeostatic model assessment 2, as well as insulin sensitivity estimated by the Matsuda index. Methods: In a university affiliated medical center, 32 participants (22 women, 10 men) that had an indication for testing for type 2 diabetes mellitus with an oral glucose tolerance test were enrolled in this cross-sectional, comparative study. Clinical and biochemical evaluations were carried out including an oral glucose tolerance test. Hepatic insulin resistance index, homeostatic model assessment 2, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance, and Matsuda insulin sensitivity were calculated for each participant. They were asked to recall their food ingestion (24 hours) of three days of the past week, including a weekend day; magnesium intake was calculated according to the food nutritional information. Results: The low dietary magnesium intake group (< 4.5 mg/kg/day) had a higher two-hour insulin concentration after an oral glucose tolerance test compared to those with high dietary magnesium (119.5 [73.0-190.6] vs. 63.5 [25.4-114.2]; p = 0.008), and insulin sensitivity assessed by the Matsuda index was higher in the high dietary magnesium intake group (4.3 ± 3.1 vs. 2.4 ± 1.5; p = 0.042). In multiple linear regression analysis a higher dietary magnesium intake was independently associated (β = 4.93; p = 0.05) with a better insulin sensitivity estimated by the Matsuda index. Conclusions: Our results suggest that higher magnesium intake is independently associated with better insulin sensitivity in patients at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Keywords: Dietary magnesium. Insulin resistance. Insulin sensitivity.

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