Iranian Journal of Diabetes and Obesity
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Spring 2014

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global health problem with significant impact on health and quality of life. There is no national statistics about this disease in Afghanistan. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of DM and associated factors in adults lived in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jalalabad city in May to June 2013. Multistage random sampling technique was used to choice 1200 adults aged 25-70 years. WHO STEPS approach was used to collect data on demographic and behavioral factors. Physical measurements including height, weight, blood pressure and biochemical blood analysis were done. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed using SPSS version.20. The prevalence of diabetes was 11.8%. There was significant difference of diabetes prevalence between female and male (13.4 % vs. 9.4 %). The mean age of diabetic patients was 38.8 ±11 years. The factors such as vegetables consumption (OR:0.48, 95%CI: 0.31 – 0.75), obesity (OR:1.83, 95%CI: 1.11 – 3.03), hypertension (OR:1.99, 95%CI:1.33 – 2.97), total cholesterol (OR:1.64, 95%CI:1.07 – 2.51), and total triglycerides(OR:1.91, 95%CI: 1.16 – 3.16) independently are associated with diseases. The high prevalence of diabetes in working-age is cause of concern. Measures such as raising awareness and changing of lifestyle may help to reduce the burden of DM among Jalalabad adults.

Patients with metabolic syndrome are prone to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Regarding the importance of nutritional factors in management of metabolic syndrome, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of dark chocolate consumption on serum lipid profile in patients with metabolic syndrome. In this randomized clinical trial, 114 patients with metabolic syndrome, aged 30 to 60 years, without heart, renal and hepatic diseases were recruited. The eligible patients were randomly allocated to receive either dark chocolate (76% purity), 20 or 40 grams daily for two months. Total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides (TG) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were measured with enzymatic methods before and after intervention. A low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level was calculated by the Friedewald formula. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 and ANOVA test P<0.05 was considered significant. Dietary intake was measured with NUT4 software at the beginning and the end of the study. There were no significant changes in dietary intakes of patients during the intervention in three groups. No significant differences were seen in mean concentration of lipid profile before and after intervention in groups (P>0.05). Consumption of 20-40g/day dark chocolate with 76% purity for 2 months doesnt change the lipid profile of patients with metabolic syndrome.

Gestational diabetes influences mother’s health and is accompanied by severe complications. Relaxation is a complementary method for managing this disease. Hence, the current study aimed to evaluate the effect of relaxation on blood sugar and blood pressure changes of women with gestational diabetes. In present randomized control trial, 58 patients with gestational diabetes who had referred to Hafez hospital, Shiraz, were selected through simple random sampling. Then, they were randomly divided into control and intervention groups. The intervention group received a regular 3-week educational intervention in the form of five 45-minute sessions, including Benson's relaxation training. Both theoretically and practically along with discussion as well as question and answer. Fasting blood sugar, 2-hour postprandial blood sugar, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured in both groups before, immediately after and one month after the intervention. Then, the data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software (v. 16) and using Chi-square and independent t-test. According to the results, the mean of fasting blood sugar was 94.79 and 103 mg/dl in the intervention and control groups, respectively (P<0.001). Besides, the mean of 2-hour postprandial blood sugar was 107 mg/dl in the intervention group and 118 mg/dl in the control group (P<0.001). In addition, the mean of systolic blood pressure was 120 and 127 mg/dl in the intervention and control groups, respectively (P=0.006). The findings of the current study confirmed the effectiveness of relaxation training in fasting blood sugar, 2-hour postprandial blood sugar and systolic blood pressure.

The aim of the present study is assessment of insulin resistance (IR) in obese women by TyG-Index and compared with the HOMA-IR index. This cross-sectional study was performed on 61 obese women aged 18-45 years. Weights, height, waist circumference (WC) were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated and recorded. A sample of fasting serum was collected to determine the glucose, triglyceride, insulin, total cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C concentration. HOMA-IR and TyG-Index were calculated as markers of insulin resistance. The mean age of the precipitants was 32.5 ±0.79 years old and the mean weight was 86.0±1.7 Kg. The number of people with IR who determined by HOMA and TyG index were 21(34%) and 36(61%), respectively. There was a significant relationship between HOMA-IR and TyG Index, r= 0.044 (P<0.001). TyG index represents a useful and accessible tool for assessment of IR instead HOMA_IR in Iranian population, but more researches with greater sample size and via gold standard lab test need to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of this new method.

Quality of life (QOL) is an intellectual concept consisting of positive and negative aspects of an individual’s life and indeed it demonstrates the method by which a person perceives the health condition as well as the other aspects of his/her life and reacts to them. Currently, assessment of QOL is more considered because of the increased prevalence of chronic diseases. So, the current study was conducted to assess the QOL in type 2 diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic subjects. A case-control study was conducted in Yazd Health Monitoring Research Center on 50 diabetic patients and 50 healthy people in March2014.The data collection instrument had two parts: 1-demographic and disease related check list; 2- Persian validated and reliable version of SF-36.Descriptive and multivariate statistics were done with the statistical software SPSS-17 (Chicago, IL, US) 50 participants were included in case and control groups. Fifty percent of patients were female and most of them (42%) were between 41-60 years old. The mean ± standard deviation of quality of life score in cases and controls were 54.95±13.17 and 68.87±28.57 respectively. The mean of quality of life score in physical functioning, vitality, role emotional, social functioning and bodily pain domains were significantly different between case and control groups. Our study showed lower levels of QOL in diabetic patients in comparison with control group. This is in agreement with previous studies and may be related to complications of DM, or numerous problems which diabetic patients encounter. Improving of QOL by appropriate education and follow-up must be emphasized to the management of diabetic patients.

Herbal medicine and medical plants such as Ziziphus Jujuba are widely used in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes mellitus. We investigated the effects of ethanol extracts of Ziziphus Jujuba fruit on serum glucose, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, cholesterol and activities of aminotransferase enzymes in streptozocin-induced diabetic adult male rats. Adult Wistar rats were rendered hyperglycemic. Animals were divided into four equal groups (7 per group). Animals in all groups were treated for 14 days. Blood samples were collected from the heart of the animals. Continuous supplementation of ethanol extract in drinkable water of diabetic rats resulted to a significant decrease of fasting blood glucose, cholesterol and increase in high density lipoprotein levels after 14 days (P<0.05), but the levels of triglycerides, LDL-cholestrol, activities of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase did not changed significantly in treatment group compared to control group(P>0.05). This paper discussed the antidiabetic effect of an alcoholic extract of Ziziphus Jujuba on streptozocin-induced diabetes in rats. Researchers showed that Streptozocin injection led to diabetes mellitus, which may be due to destruction of β cells of the islets of Langerhans.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in elderly people. The prevalence of Alzheimer diseases is increasing in the world due to population aging. Metabolic disease such as diabetes and obesity play important role in Alzheimer disease. Hyperglycemia can play important role in brain damage. It causes cognitive impairments, functional and structural alterations in the brain. Since insulin has neuro protective effect in vivo, impaired insulin action in brain may affect neurodegenerative diseases. Obesity correlated increased free fatty acid can lead to Alzheimer disease. Free fatty acids agitate the synthesis of amyloid and tau filaments in vitro. In this paper, Alzheimer disease and its mechanism are discussed in section 1. In section 2, diabetes and Alzheimer, brain insulin signaling pathway in AD are explained. Obesity and Oxidative stress in AD are discussed in section 3, 4.