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Endocrine Abstracts (2022) 81 EP443 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.81.EP443

1National Institute of Nutrition, A, Tunis, Tunisia; 2Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunisia; 3University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia


Introduction: Olive oil is the most representative food of the traditional Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) that, besides having high-monounsaturated fatty acids content, contains other minor components with biological properties. Olive oil as a food, and the MedDiet as a food pattern are associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and vascular complications among diabetic patients.

Methods: It was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted over a three-month period including patients aged 18 years and older with a confirmed diagnosis of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. We completed a 14-Item MedDiet adherence screener in face-to-face interview with the participant to assess dietary habits. Three categories of adherence to the MedDiet were identified (low ≤5, median 6-9, high ≥10 points of the 14-item questionnaire).

Results: The study enrolled 109 patients, 48% were males and 52% were females. The average age of the cohort was 53.7 years ± 17.8 years. 78.7% of the patients were running type 2 diabetes. Of them, 57.4% had dyslipidemia and 68% were overweight or obese. High Blood Pressure was found in 47.2% of cases. The capillary blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin were respectively around 12.41 mmol/l and 10.55%. Diabetic patients with low, median or high adherence to the MedDiet represent 11%, 64%, and 25% respectively. We found an inverse significant relationship between the adherence to MedDiet and nephropathy (P = 0.02, r = -0.15), chronic peripheral artery occlusive disease (P = 0.034, r = -0.21), coronary artery disease (P = 0.046, r = -0.2) and body mass index (P = 0.049, r = -0,15). However, there wasn’t association with retinopathy (P = 0.9) or diabetic peripheral neuropathy (P = 0.32).

Conclusions: The beneficial effects of increased adherence to a Mediterranean-type diet on the prevention of type 2 diabetes complications are now well known and may in part be mediated by weight modulation. Our study concluded that MedDiet reduces the incidence of diabetic nephropathy, chronic peripheral artery occlusive disease and coronary artery disease but it had no beneficial effect on the incidence of diabetic retinopathy or peripheral neuropathy.

Volume 81

European Congress of Endocrinology 2022

Milan, Italy
21 May 2022 - 24 May 2022

European Society of Endocrinology 

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