Association of diet with serum insulin-like growth factor I in middle-aged and elderly men.
BACKGROUND
Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has been implicated in several chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.


OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to assess whether intakes of total energy, alcohol, vitamins, minerals, and foods rich in protein and minerals (including red meat, fish and seafood, poultry, and milk) are associated with serum IGF-I concentrations in middle-aged and elderly men.


METHODS
We measured serum IGF-I concentrations in 226 free-living healthy men aged 42-76 y. The average of fourteen 24-h dietary telephone interviews performed over 1 y was used to estimate long-term dietary intake.


RESULTS
We observed statistically significant positive associations between intakes of protein (P for trend = 0.001) and zinc (P for trend = 0.002) and serum IGF-I concentrations after adjusting for age. The difference in mean IGF-I concentrations for the highest compared with the lowest quintile of intake was approximately 17% (162 microg/L compared with 139 microg/L) for protein and approximately 16% (166 microg/L compared with 143 microg/L) for zinc. Consumption of red meat (P for trend = 0.05) and fish and seafood (P for trend = 0.07) was modestly positively associated with IGF-I concentrations. Other dietary factors were not associated with IGF-I concentrations.


CONCLUSIONS
In this population of healthy well-nourished men, greater dietary intakes of protein, zinc, red meat, and fish and seafood were associated with higher IGF-I concentrations.
Larsson
Susanna C
SC
Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, The National Institute of Environmental Medicine and Molecular Medicine, Unit of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. susanna.larsson@imm.ki.se
Wolk
Katarina
K
Brismar
Kerstin
K
Wolk
Alicja
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012907:Smoking; D013548:Sweden
D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I