INS and metabolic syndrome: As shown in Table 2, MetS was associated with a significant increase in the circulating levels of total lipids, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-c, HDL-c, leptin, insulin (p < 0.001 for all), glucose (p < 0.05) and IL-6 (p < 0.01) and with a significant reduction in the serum levels of adiponectin (p < 0.001).