Fifteen diabetic patients, with a duration of 4.9 months with diabetes and an average age of 49.6 ± 8.6 years, participated in a pilot study for 12 weeks to assess the effect of plant-based diet on their diabetes features. Participants were 2 females and 13 males and their baseline measurements were 30.2 ±5.4 kg/m², 189.2 ± 76.3 mg/dL and 9.4 ± 2.5% for body mass index [BMI], fasting blood glucose [FBG] and HbA1c, respectively. Participant’s adherence to the dietary programme on a scale of 0–10 was 8 ± 1.5. Their endpoint BMI, FBG and HbA1c were 28.7 ± 4.3 kg/m², 102.6 ± 19.8 mg/dL and 6.2 ± 0.8%, respectively. Weight loss was significantly correlated with baseline body weight, baseline BMI and duration in diabetes, while baseline fasting blood glucose was correlated with baseline and endpoint HbA1c [p < 0.01]. However, it was not significantly correlated with endpoint body weight [p < 0.08] and BMI [p < 0.018]. This study has shown that management of body parameters [weight and BMI] through diet such as plant-based diet has resulted in significant reduction in diabetes parameters such as FBG and HbA1c. A larger number of participants are recommended in similar type of studies to have solid conclusions.

Title

International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries

Publisher

Springer

Publisher Country

India

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

361.0

Publication Type

Prtinted only

Volume

8

Year

2018

Pages

1-12