Efficacy of Mediterranean Diet on Blood Biochemical Factors in Type II Diabetic Patients

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common endocrinologic disorder and the seventh cause of mortality worldwide. In Mediterranean dietary, consumption of plant source food such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, beans etc. is much emphasized. There are many studies showed that this regimen can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and factors associated in diabetes mellitus. Therefore, in this study we investigated the efficacy of this regimen on blood biochemical factors in diabetic patients referred to diabetes clinic in Gorgan. Patients and Methods: This was a clinical trial study in which 228 well-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus patients between 40-60 years were included in the study. They were randomly assigned to two different groups: control and Mediterranean educational intervention group. They followed up for 6 months and before and after the intervention, we evaluated the glycemic and lipid profile and physiological parameters in them. Data were analyzed by SPSS software.Results: Totally 228 patients with diabetes mellitus type II between 40 to 60 years old were recruited. The mean age of patients was 57.3±9.28 years old. Majority of participants were female (77.2%) with elementary level of literacy (77.6%). The mean of fasting blood glucose was 192.50± 64.17 mg/dL in intervention group versus 208.48 ± 87.90 mg/dL in control group (P> 0.05). This index was changed to 165.49± 50.39 mg/dL in intervention group which was significantly lower than the amount in control group (P<0.001). A clinically and statistically significant fall in HbA1c was observed in intervention group rather than control group (P<0.001). Conclusion: The present study represented a significant relationship between Mediterranean dietary intervention and both anthropometric and laboratory findings in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. We showed that this dietary could significantly lower the FBS, HbA1c, and LDL. Although we showed this meaningful difference, it should be more evaluated in Iranian race people to investigate more in this topic.

Keywords:

Mediterranean dietary , type 2 diabetes mellitus , biochemical factors , clinical trial