Combined efficacy of low-calorie diets and aerobic training on nutritional status of obese patients with early type 2 diabetes

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the combined efficacy of low-calorie diets and aerobic training on the nutritional status of obese patients with early type 2 diabetes mellitus.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

120 consecutive obese patients with early type 2 diabetes were admitted to our hospital between August 2021 and December 2022. The patients enrolled were equally and randomly allocated into the control group (60 cases, given conventional diabetes diet intervention) and the study group (60 cases, given a low-calorie diet intervention combined with aerobic training). The parameters, including the nutritional status, fasting insulin (FINS), Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), blood lipid level, and quality of life, were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

Before treatment, there were no measurable differences in the levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (2hPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc), albumin (ALB), prealbumin (PA), and hemoglobin (Hb) between the two groups (p>0.05), whereas two months after treatment, the FBG, 2hPG, and HbAIc levels were greatly lower, and the levels of ALB, PA, and Hb were significantly higher in the study group than those in the control group (p<0.05). Before treatment, no statistically significant differences were found in FINS and HOMA-IR values between the two groups (p>0.05). Two months after treatment, however, the study group showed lower FINS and HOMA-IR values as compared to the control group, with statistically significant differences (p<0.05). Before treatment, there was no statistically significant difference in the levels of triacylglycerol, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) between the two groups (p>0.05), while the four levels in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group two months after treatment (p<0.05). Similarly, there were no statistically significant differences in scores of physiological, psychological, social, and therapy-related problems between the two groups before treatment (p>0.05), whereas the abovementioned scores were evidently higher in the study group than control group two months after treatment (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

A low-calorie diet intervention combined with aerobic training exerted good effects in terms of greatly enhancing the nutritional status among obese patients with early type 2 diabetes mellitus, which was deemed appropriate for clinical promotion and implementation.