Relationships of plasma C-peptide and gender to the urinary excretion of inositols in older people.

PURPOSE: The urinary excretions of myo-inositol and D-chiro-inositol are elevated in diabetes, and have been suggested as possible markers or effectors of insulin action. The aim of the present study was to measure the urinary excretion of these compounds, and to assess possible relationships with the metabolic control of glucose, in older, non-diabetic men and women. SUBJECTS: 32 older (age range 54-71 yrs), moderately overweight (body mass index 29.1 +/- 0.4 kg/m2, mean +/- SEM), non-diabetic men (n = 17) and women (n = 15). METHODS: 75 g oral glucose tolerance testing was done the day after all subjects had consumed nutrient-defined menus for five days. Plasma samples were analyzed for the concentrations of glucose, insulin, and C-peptide, and the 180-minute area under the curve (AUC) for each of these compounds was calculated. Samples from 24-hour urine collections were analyzed for the concentrations of myo-inositol, D-chiro-inositol, L-chiro-inositol, and pinitol. RESULTS: The fasting glucose, insulin, and C-peptide, and the AUC for glucose and insulin, were not different between men and women. C-peptide AUC was greater in the men versus the women (p < 0.001). The median urinary excretions (micromol/g creatinine) of myo-inositol (p < 0.001), D-chiro-inositol (p < 0.001), L-chiro-inositol (p < 0.05), and pinitol (p < 0.001) were higher, and the myo-inositol:D-chiro-inositol ratio was lower (p < 0.001), in the men versus women. For all subjects combined, C-peptide AUC was positively correlated with the urinary excretion of each of the measured inositols, as well as the myo-inositol:D-chiro-inositol ratio. The correlations between C-peptide AUC and these inositols were strongly influenced by the co-linear relationship between C-peptide AUC and gender. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, these data show that older, moderately overweight, non-diabetic men and women with gender-related differences in glucose-stimulated C-peptide AUC, an indirect indicator of insulin secretion, also display differences in the urinary excretion of myo-inositol, D-chiro-inositol, L-chiro-inositol, and pinitol. The gender-related difference in the myo-inositol:D-chiro-inositol ratio suggests that, while the urinary excretion of all of the inositols measured were higher in the men than the women, the difference was more pronounced for D-chiro-inositol.