The association between plasma zinc concentrations and markers of glucose metabolism in adults in Cameroon.
The British journal of nutrition 2023
Mba CM, Jones KS, Forouhi NG, Imamura F, Assah F, Mbanya JC, Wareham NJ
DOI : 10.1017/S0007114523000223
PubMed ID : 36693633
PMCID :
Abstract
An abnormal zinc status has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. However, epidemiological studies of the relationship between plasma zinc concentrations and diabetes are sparse and inconclusive. We aimed to investigate the association between plasma zinc concentrations and glycaemic markers (fasting glucose, 2-h glucose and HOMA-IR) in rural and urban Cameroon. We studied 596 healthy adults (63.3% women) aged 25-55 years in a population-based cross-sectional study. The mean plasma zinc concentration was 13.7±2.7 µmol/L overall, with higher levels in men (14.4±2.9 µmol/L) than in women (13.2±2.6 µmol/L), p-value < 0.0001. There was an inverse relationship between tertiles of plasma zinc and 2-h glucose concentrations (p-value for linear trend=0.002). The difference in 2-h glucose between those in the highest tertile of plasma zinc compared to the lowest was -0.63(95% CI -1.02 to -0.23) mmol/L. This remained significant after adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, alcohol intake, education level, area of residence, adiposity and objectively measured physical activity -0.43(-0.82 to -0.04). Similar inverse associations were observed between plasma zinc concentrations and fasting glucose and HOMA-IR when adjusted for socio-demographic and health-related behavioural characteristics. The current findings of an inverse association between plasma zinc concentrations and several markers of glucose homeostasis, together with growing evidence from intervention studies suggest a role for zinc in glucose metabolism. If supported by further evidence, strategies to improve zinc status in populations may provide a cheap public health prevention approach for diabetes.