Nutritional Status of the Aging II. Blood Glucose Levels

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Abstract
Of 577 presumably normal men and women over 50 years of age examined as to dietary intake, physical condition and blood and urine composition, postprandial blood sugar levels of 430 are reported. All records used in computation of means were of persons who had eaten a carbohydrate meal two hours or more previous to withdrawal of the venous blood sample. Forty-five men were living in the county home and the rest of the subjects in their own homes. The mean venous blood sugar levels, excluding all over 130 mg per 100 ml, determined by a method which recorded the true reducing sugar content, calculated for 5-year age intervals and separated as to sex showed little variation with age or sex, although there was a slight indication of an increase with age in the women. The overall mean was 101 mg per 100 ml of blood. This is significantly higher than the means usually quoted for young adults. Hyperglycemia judged by various criteria was found in 2.1 to 5.6% of men and 1.3 to 4.4% of the women. Glycosuria of varying degrees was noted in 36 cases, 24 of them two hours or more after the last meal. In 18 of these cases the blood sugar level was over 130 mg per 100 ml of blood and in 18 it was under that amount. Moderate to severe glycosuria and hyperglycemia occurred together in 8 men and two women. Four women and 14 men had equally severe glycosuria but normal or low blood sugar levels. Only 5 of these persons were known previously to be diabetic. Variable renal reabsorption of glucose may account for the discrepancies in blood and urine findings. The effect on distribution of the blood sugar levels of food intake at one-half hour intervals previous to the withdrawal of the blood sample was noted in a group of 167 persons. The men in the county home over 65 years of age had significantly lower blood sugar levels, mean 85 mg per 100 ml of blood, than men of the same age living in their own homes. There were 6 hyperglycemic and three diabetic cases also in the county home group. This group presented an unusual incidence of diabetes and its presence in the sample may account for the apparent higher incidence of these signs in men than in women. A moderate positive correlation between fat intake and blood sugar level was found in the women but not in the men. No correlation of blood sugar with carbohydrate or protein intake was found in either men or women.

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