Dietary Magnesium Intake Level Modifies the Association Between Vitamin D and Insulin Resistance: A Large Cross-Sectional Analysis of American Adults

Ya Liu; Rongpeng Gong; Haixiu Ma; Siai Chen; Jingwei Sun; Jiarui Qi; Yidan Pang; Juan An; Zhanhai Su

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.878665

Dietary Magnesium Intake Level Modifies the Association Between Vitamin D and Insulin Resistance: A Large Cross-Sectional Analysis of American Adults

Front Nutr. 2022 Jun 7:9:878665. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.878665. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ya Liu¹, Rongpeng Gong¹, Haixiu Ma^{1

2}, Siai Chen¹, Jingwei Sun¹, Jiarui Qi¹, Yidan Pang¹, Juan An¹, Zhanhai Su¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Qinghai University Medical College, Xining, China.
² Key Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine, Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Xining, China.

Abstract

Background: Previous clinical studies and randomized controlled trials have revealed that low serum vitamin D levels are associated with the risk of developing insulin resistance. Magnesium has been reported to be a protective factor for insulin resistance, and magnesium has been considered an important co-factor for vitamin D activation. However, the effect of dietary magnesium intake on the relationship between vitamin D and the risk of developing insulin resistance has not been comprehensively investigated. Therefore, we designed this cross-sectional analysis to assess whether dietary magnesium intake modifies the association of vitamin D and insulin resistance.

Methods: A total of 4,878 participants (male: 48.2%) from 4 consecutive cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2014) were included in this study after a rigorous screening process. Participants were stratified by their dietary magnesium intake into low-intake (<267 mg/day) and high-intake (≥267 mg/day) groups. We assessed differences between serum vitamin D levels and the risk of developing insulin resistance (interaction test), using a weighted multivariate logistic regression to analyze differences between participants with low and high magnesium intake levels.

Results: There was a negative association between vitamin D and insulin resistance in the US adult population [OR: 0.93 (0.88-0.98)], P < 0.001. Dietary magnesium intake strengthened the association (P for interaction < 0.001). In the low dietary magnesium intake group, vitamin D was negatively associated with the insulin resistance [OR: 0.94 (0.90-0.98)]; in the high dietary magnesium intake group, vitamin D was negatively associated with insulin resistance [OR: 0.92 (0.88-0.96)].

Conclusion: Among adults in the United States, we found an independent association between vitamin D level and insulin resistance, and this association was modified according to different levels of magnesium intake.

Keywords: American adults; cross-sectional studies; dietary magnesium intake; insulin resistance; vitamin D.