Evaluation of serum magnesium and zinc levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

The complications of Type 2Diabetes, both microvascular and macrovascular develop at an early stage of life in Indian population. The reasons may be poor glycemic control and excessive loss of serum Mg and serum Zn.

To estimate the serum magnesium and serum zinc levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients.

In the present case-control study, we inducted 94 subjects (47 T2DM and 47 age and sex matched healthy controls), aged between 25–70 years. Fasting blood sugar (FBS), post prandial blood sugar (PPBS), glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), serum Mg and serum Zn were estimated in each of them. Statistical analysis was conducted by using SPSS version 20. Results were tested at 5% level of significance.

Level of serum Zn was found low in T2DM patients compared to healthy controls and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.03), whereas, there was no significant difference in serum Mg levels (p=0.14). FBS, PPBS and HbA1c have significant positive correlation in T2DM patients (p<0.01). Mg has shown negative correlation with FBS, PPBS and HbA1c. While, it showed positive correlation with Zn. However, Zn has shown positive correlation with FBS and PPBS, while negative correlation with HbA1c. All the correlations were found to be not significant.

In the present study, the serum zinc level was low in Type 2 DM patients in comparison to healthy controls. The difference was statistically significant. However serum magnesium levels were not significantly different in T2DM in comparison to healthy controls. The reduced serum zinc levels in T2DM patients may be due to gastrointestinal malabsorption and excessive urinary loss of zinc.