Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Feb 28;10(1):37.
doi: 10.1186/s40795-024-00843-z.

Dietary assessment of type 2 diabetic patients using healthful plant-based diet score in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

Rudaynah A Alali  1   2 , Suad A Alateeq  3 , Afnan F Almuhanna  4 , Abdulmohsen H Al Elq  1   2 , Waleed I Albaker  1   2 , Alawi Habara  3 , Fatima A Alrubaish  1   2 , Chittibabu Vatte  3 , Bao-Li Loza  5 , Fahad A Al-Muhanna  1   2 , Amein K Al-Ali  6
Affiliations

Dietary assessment of type 2 diabetic patients using healthful plant-based diet score in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

Rudaynah A Alali et al. BMC Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by a wide range of metabolic problems. The current study sought to assess nutritional habits of Saudi patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and to propose recommendations to improve these patients' dietary habits and delay possible disease complications.

Methods: Over a period of three years, (2017-2019) 577 patients with T2D attending the outpatient's diabetic clinics at King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia were invited to participate in this study. Data of dietary intake were collected by trained nurses using a pretested structured validated semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The dietary data were collected using 7-day dietary recall questionnaire. A modified score system that associates dietary habits with glycemic control and lipid profile was used.

Results: Overall, a high healthful plant-based diet score was associated with a significant (P = 0.018) reduction in triglycerides (TG) level (mean difference - 3.78%; 95% CI, -0.65% to -6.81%) and a statistically non-significant (P = 0.06) increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (mean difference 1.87%; 95% CI -0.06-3.84%) in T2D patients from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, in our patient group, the prevalence of coronary artery disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and chronic kidney disease in T2D patients was 11.3%, 6.2%, 3.3%, and 8.4%, respectively and were higher when compared to the prevalence in the general population.

Conclusion: The present study showed that adherence to a healthful plant-based diet, when compared to high glycemic index diet, is associated with a favorable outcome in glycemic control and lipid profile in T2D patients. Prior assessment of total diet quality may be beneficial when giving nutritional advice to T2D patients with the possibility of improving glycemic control and lipid profile.

Keywords: Dietary patterns; Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c); Glycemic Control; Lipid Profile; Nutrition; T2D.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The distribution of the modified healthful plant-based diet score among patients with T2D. The Scores are normally distributed (bell-shape curve) with mean ± SD of 34.87 ± 4.96; min = 21, max = 48
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot representing the results shown in Table 3 for the association of HbA1c, TC, TG, HDL, LDL with Modified Healthful Plant-based Diet Score (as quintiles) among T2D patients, adjusting for age and sex
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Association AD. 2. Classification and diagnosis of diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2018;41(Suppl 1):13–S27. doi: 10.2337/dc18-S002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ley SH, Hamdy O, Mohan V, Hu FB. Prevention and management of type 2 diabetes: dietary components and nutritional strategies. Lancet. 2014;383(9933):1999–2007. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60613-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zheng Y, Ley SH, Hu FB. Global aetiology and epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2018;14(2):88–98. doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2017.151. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Association AD. 4. Lifestyle Management. Diabetes Care. 2018;41(Suppl 1):38–S50. doi: 10.2337/dc18-S004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ahmad E, Lim S, Lamptey R, Webb DR, Davies MJ. Type 2 diabetes. Lancet. 2022;400(10365):1803–20. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01655-5. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources