The effectiveness of medical nutrition therapy for the control of weight and fasting blood sugar in the type 2 diabetic patients

Although the short-term benefit of medical nutrition therapy (MNT) on the management of diabetes has been shown by previous studies, long-term efficiency of MNT has not been adequately investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of MNT during a 1-year follow-up period in the type II diabetic patients. In a follow-up study, 163 newly-diagnosed type II diabetic patients received MNT, including the educational materials on calorie, quantity and frequency of food intake, as well as the snakes. Patients were asked to have a second nutritional consulting after 1 month. Body weight, FBS and HbA1c were measured at 3, 6 and 12-month intervals and the results were compared using repeated-measures ANOVA. The mean of patients’ age was 51.2±9.3 years. HbA1c, weight and BMI decreased significantly after 3 months of MNT (p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.01, respectively), followed by continuous but non-significant decrease in the mentioned variables during the next 9 months. Though the weight, BMI, FBS and HbA1c did not decrease significantly beyond 3 months of MNT, but the changes were significant as compared to the beginning of the study. It is probable to enhance the long-term effect of MNT on weight and glycemic control by increasing the number of sessions of nutritional consulting.