Fig. 2.

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have low levels of intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) in their stool. Stool samples of healthy participants and T2DM patients were assayed for IAP concentration using an automatic biochemistry analyzer (see Fig. 1). (a) IAP concentrations in the stools of total non-diabetic healthy control and diabetic populations. (b) Age-dependent distribution of IAP concentrations in the stools of male control and diabetic populations. (c) Age-dependent distribution of IAP concentrations in the stools of female control and diabetic populations. Statistics: Values are expressed as mean +/− SEM. Statistical significance of the difference between two groups was tested using the unpaired two-tailed Student's t-Test. p < 0.05 is considered significant. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001. The post-hoc statistical power analyses revealed the powers for respective total, male and female groups to be 100%, 100% and 100%, respectively, validating the adequacy of power (conventionally, > 80% power at α = 0.05) for respective sample sizes. Percentage loss of IAP in T2DM patients compared to healthy controls: Total, 47.6%; male, 51.4%; female, 45.4%. The average IAP level is 19.6% less in healthy control males compared to healthy females, however, the difference is not significant (p = 0.061). T2DM males have 28.6% less IAP compared to T2DM females, and the difference is significant (p = 0.041). The difference in IAP values between younger and older groups of the same population (diabetic or non-diabetic) is not statistically significant.