In the subjects without diabetes (Table 2), body fat percentage (53.5 [50.8, 53.5] vs. 45.1 [41.2, 48.0]%, P = 0.0083), blood glucose level (97.0 [97.0, 97.0] vs. 85.0 [82.0, 93.0] mg/dL, P = 0.038) and natural log-transformed HS-CRP (− 0.11 [− 0.17, − 0.01] vs. − 0.80 [− 1.02, − 0.30] mg/dL, P = 0.043) were significantly higher in the low IGF-1 than in the standard IGF-1 group. Here, CRP is linked to diabetes mellitus.