ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the alterations of carbohydrate metabolism occurring with age, the relationship between nutritional factors and carbohydrate metabolism, and the potential interaction between age-related nutritional changes and alterations of carbohydrate metabolism. Diabetes mellitus is a clinical syndrome characterized by a number of alterations of metabolic homeostasis which eventually are associated with neurovascular abnormalities in most patients. Although short-term dietary manipulations can clearly affect glucose tolerance, there is no convincing evidence that overt diabetes mellitus can be precipitated by any specific dietary factor. Aging in man is associated with a marked increase of both overt hyperglycemia and of glucose intolerance. However, as reviewed in detail by Davidson, studies in man and animals of insulin secretion with aging when overt hyperglycemia is not present have provided conflicting results — some showing increased insulin levels, others decreased insulin levels, and yet others showing no change with aging.
