Effect of zinc replacement on lipids and lipoproteins in type 2-diabetic patients.

Abnormal zinc and lipid plasma levels occur more frequently in metabolically uncontrolled diabetic patients. These lipid alterations are key factors in the emergence of microvascular complications, which lead to death in those patients. Yet, zinc sulfate supplementation may be a therapeutical resource to recover some functioning and improve life span. This article reports the assessment of lipid profile from type 2-diabetes mellitus patients treated with hypoglycemic therapy drugs, who additionally presented zinc levels lower than average in Mexican reference. The patients received a 100 mg zinc sulfate treatment in a crossover double-blind design of clinically controlled study with starch as placebo. The diabetic patients had changes in their lipid profile after a 12-week zinc treatment as compared with placebo treatment. The 100 mg zinc sulfate treatment was well tolerated, significantly reduced total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, and increased those corresponding to zinc as well as HDL cholesterol in the bloodstream. Thus, using this treatment the cardiovascular involvement is expected to decrease in the type 2-diabetes mellitus patients, especially those with myocardial infarction and stroke, which are the main death causes in Mexico.

Correlation between serum leptin levels and insulin sensitivity in diffuse toxic goiter.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this survey was to assess the correlation between leptin and insulin sensitivity (IS) in cases of diffuse toxic goiter. DESIGN, PATIENTS, MEASUREMENTS: This is a descriptive study on patients with diffuse toxic goiter (DTG) assessing their body mass index (BMI), serum leptin concentrations, circulating insulin (area under the curve (AuC) of insulin), average insulin level, thyroid hormones, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), glycemia and IS (using a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp and the homeostasis model for assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) before and after euthyroidism induced with metimazol. RESULTS: The average patient age was 35 years old (range 31-40 years), height was 157 cm (range 151-160 cm), glycemia was 4.3 +/- 0.3 mmol/L and TSH 0.1 +/- 0.1 microU/mL. Average leptin level was 11.3 +/- 2.8 ng/dL, the average insulin level was 10.13 +/- 3.7 mIU/mL and the AuC for insulin was 50.6 +/- 18 microIU x min/mL. No correlation was found between leptin and BMI, thyroid hormones and glycemia. While controlling for the BMI effect, a correlation was found between leptin and TSH (r = -0.77, p = 0.042), as well as between leptin and insulinemia (r = 0.93, r2 = 0.86, p = 0.001) independently from the state of thyroid function. There was a tendency for a high correlation between leptin and the insulin AuC (hyperthyroidism: r = 0.89, p = 0.056; euthyroidism: r = 0.99, p = 0.056). A negative correlation was found between IS and the insulin AuC (rho = -0.58, p = 0.18). There was a high tendency for correlation between leptin and IS when the BMI effect (HOMA-IR: r = 0.70, p = 0.12; PHE: r = -0.55, p = 0.26) was taken into consideration. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high tendency for a negative correlation between leptin and IS when the BMI effect is controlled. There is a high tendency for a positive correlation between leptin and insulin and TSH.