Endocrine Abstracts

Context: Weight reduction in obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) leads to hyperglycaemia improvement and reduces complications. Thus it is important to investigate the potential benefits of the use of different dietetic approaches on weight loss.

Objective: To examine the efficacy of two different dieting methods on weight loss in patients with T2DM.

Materials and methods: 30 participants with T2DM, 18 men and 12 women, overweight or obese, aged 50.8 ± 11.2y were categorized into two intervention groups: 1rst group (n = 15) received a diet based on equivalent exchange list food choices (EEL) and 2nd group (n = 15) received a point–calorie and starch equivalent system (PCS) for a 39month period. The EEL diet included carbohydrate specific pre–planned meals that the subject had to follow. The PCS diet was a free food choice system, with specific points and starch content attributed to foods listed. Subjects had individual point and starch limit daily. The recommended energy consumption was 500 Kcal less than the predicted total energy expenditure. The efficacy of each method was assessed by weight loss (weight day 0– weight day 90) and % weight loss (weight day 0– weight day 90/weight day 0 × 100). Changes in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were also measured.

Results: Baseline BMI was 37.0 ± 6.5 kg/m² for the EEL and 40.1 ± 11.1 for the PCS group (P = 0.3), mean weight and WC was 108.1 ± 22.9 and 117.8 ± 33.6 kg (P = 0.2) and 122.6 ± 1.4 and 117.7 ± 24.4 cm (P = 0.5) for the EEL and PCS respectively. At 3-months the mean BMI was 34.3 ± 5.4 kg/m² for the EEL and 37.4 ± 10.7 for the PCS group (P = 0.3), the mean weight was 99.9 ± 17.4 and 109.7 ± 32.4 kg (P = 0.3) and the mean WC was 115.9 ± 17.7 and 111.1 ± 20.8 cm respectively (P = 0.7). The mean BMI reduction was 2.7 ± 1.9 kg/m² for the EEL (P = 0.001) and 2.7 ± 1.1 for the PCS group (P = 0.0001). Mean weight loss for the EEL was 8.1 ± 6.7 kg (P = 0.001) and 8.1 ± 3.2 kg (P = 0.001) for the PCS group. Mean WC reduction for the EEL group was 6.6 ± 4.8 cm (P = 0.001) and for the PCS group 6.2 ± 2.6 cm (P = 0.001). At 3 months %BMI reduction in EEL and PCS groups (7.0% ± 3.9%– 7.1% ± 2.9%), %weight loss (7.0% ± 3.9%– 7.1% ± 2.9%), and %WC reduction (5.3% ± 3.6%– 5.3% ± 3.6%) were not significantly different.

Conclusion: These preliminary findings suggest that both nutritional interventions were equally effective in weight loss in patients with T2DM. More participants and longer studies are needed for safer conclusions.