Advanced glycation end-product intake predicts insulin resistance in a sex-dependent fashion

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PURPOSE: Dietary advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been implicated in promoting insulin resistance. However, their impact on insulin resistance in a mixed population made up of males and females remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the relationship between dietary AGEs and insulin resistance may be sex-dependent. METHODS: 195 males and 239 females were included in this cross-sectional study. Study participants underwent anthropometric and metabolic assessments. AGE intake was estimated using food frequency questionnaires and databases reporting AGE content in individual food items. The relationship between AGE intake and insulin resistance, estimated using HOMA-IR, was assessed using Pearson correlation test. The predictive power of dietary AGEs towards HOMA-IR was investigated using stepwise linear regression. RESULTS: AGE intake correlated positively with HOMA-IR in females (p < 0.01) but not in male study participants (p > 0.05). Moreover, AGE intake was able to increase the predictive power of BMI towards insulin resistance in females but not males. Instead, anthropometric variables were the only discriminants able to predict insulin resistance in males. CONCLUSION: Dietary AGEs exert a sex-dependent effect on insulin resistance as their intake is associated with and able to predict HOMA-IR in females but not males. This suggests that females may be more susceptible to the deleterious impact of these glycotoxins on insulin sensitivity. Nevertheless, considering this study not involving a nutritional intervention to directly elucidate whether the effect of AGEs on insulin resistance is sex-dependent, further studies are warranted to confirm the present findings.