Effectiveness of a hypocaloric and low-carbohydrate diet on visceral adipose tissue and glycemic control in overweight and obese patients with type 2 diabetes

الملخص EN

Objective: To assesses the efficacy of a hypocaloric low-carbohydrate diet in overweight and obese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Design: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Setting: Istituto Santa Margherita, University of Pavia, Italy.

Method: Patients were enrolled based on the following criteria: both genders, age 30–85, Caucasian origin, BMI between 24.9 and 34.9 kg/m2 (overweight and obese), glycated hemoglobin ≤7.5%, glomerular filtration rate ≥60 ml/min/1.73m2 (CDK-EPI), on a free diet and only treated with metformin.

Patients were evaluated before and after the intervention.

They were randomly allocated to receive metformin with either a low-carbohydrate or a standard diet (control group) for 90 days.

At the end of each dietary period, anthropometric and biochemical assessments, and Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements were documented.

Result: Seventeen type 2 diabetic patients with an average age of 67 years and a BMI of 31 kg/ m2 were included in the study.

Eleven (64%) were females and 6 (35.3%) were males.

Patients on the low-carbohydrate diet showed reduced values of glycated hemoglobin (-0.43%; -5 mmol/ mol; P<0, 05) both within the treated group and the control group.

The preliminary data showed maintenance of fat-free mass (FFM) (-0.24 kg; p=0.862) a decrease in gynoid fat mass (FM) (-2.18 kg; P<0, 05), with a decrease in visceral adipose tissue (-0.20 kg; p=0-108).

Conclusion: A low-carbohydrate low-calorie diet has a short-term effect on the assessment of blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin values.

It also shows promising results in the reduction of gynoid fat and visceral fat among type 2 diabetic patients.