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A comparative study of serum leptin and insulin resistance between Korean postmenopausal vegetarian women and omnivorous women
Author(s) -
Bae YunJung,
Sung ChungJa,
Lee JaeCheol,
Kim MiHyun
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.lb85-b
Subject(s) - insulin resistance , medicine , omnivore , leptin , endocrinology , insulin , anthropometry , obesity , biology , predation , paleontology
With growing reports on health benefits of vegetarian diets, there is an interest in comparing insulin resistance and leptin between omnivores and vegetarians. The purpose of this study is to compare the serum leptin and insulin resistance between postmenopausal vegetarians and omnivores. The study subjects were composed of vegetarian women (n=54), all of them were Seventh Day Adventists, who had been on a vegetarian diet for over 20 yrs. Their anthropometric characteristics, serum leptin, serum glucose, insulin, insulin resistance (HOMA) and nutrient intakes were compared to a control group of omnivores (n=48). The average age of vegetarians and omnivores were 62.1 years and 60.3 years respectively and there was no significant difference between the two. The weight (p<0.01), BMI (p<0.001) and the % body fat (p<0.001) of vegetarians were significantly lower than those of omnivores. In addition, serum leptin (p<0.05), serum glucose (p<0.001), insulin (p<0.01) and HOMA (p<0.001) of vegetarians were significantly lower than those of omnivores. The HOMA of vegetarians was significantly lower than that of omnivores (p<0.01) adjusted for the % body fat. Thus, a long‐term vegetarian diet may be related to insulin resistance regardless of the % body fat in postmenopausal women.