The physiological significance of the glucose intolerance of aging

Aging is associated with glucose intolerance, but its significance is unclear. We performed oral glucose tolerance tests and more physiologic meal tolerance tests in a group of 23 young adults, mean (+/- SE) age, 37 +/- 2 years and 17 elderly adults, mean age 69 +/- 1 years. The total glucose and insulin responses following the oral glucose load were increased by 24% and 127% respectively in the elderly compared with the young (24,524 +/- 1,080 vs. 19,734 +/- 702 mg/dl X min and 24,289 +/- 3,401 vs. 10,700 +/- 1,209 microU/ml X min). Following mixed meals, the total glucose response was 45,795 +/- 1,343 mg/dl X min in the young, compared with 50,998 +/- 1,850 mg/dl X min in the elderly (p less than .05) an 11% increase. Total insulin response was increased by 40% in the elderly (38,590 +/- 3,662 microU/ml X min) compared with the young (27,481 +/- 2,805 microU/ml X min) (p less than .05). We conclude that following the ingestion of more physiologic mixed meals, modest postprandial hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia can be demonstrated in elderly adults.