Study of the effect of meal frequency in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients

  the purpose of this semi-experimental,cross-over and perspective study was to investigate the effect of the number of the meals on fasting serum,colestrol,triglyceride,glucose,and serum glucose at time intervals of 0.5,1,1.5 and 2 hours after eating a standard breakfast(BTT) included 125g of taftoon bread,cheese 40g,50g of 2.5% milk which contains 470kcal of energy,75g of carbohydrate,20g of protein and 10g of lipid.the subjects were 12 NIDDM (non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus) patients referring to the Tehran institute of endocrinology and metabolism.information was obtained regarding the intake of food using a questionaire over 3 days of food consumption.the subjects were divided into two groups at random and each group was given one of the 4 meal or 8 meal diets which contained equal calories.the subgroups were on the diets for a period at 2 weeks and the time interval between the two periods was 18+_2.16 days.in the second phase of the study wach group used a different recommended diet.Initial and final(i-e.at the end of either period) blood analysis was performed on all the subjects in the reference laboratory.the paired t-test was used to test the hypotheses.the results are as followe:p1.there was nostatistically significant difference observed between the two subgroups with regard to today weight,BM1and the amounts of drugs consumed during the study period. 2.the blood glucose concentrations 0.5,1,1.5 and 2 hours after B.T.T at the end of the high meal frequency diet were significantly lower the initial values,(p<0.002). 3.the fasting blood glucose concentration at the end of the high-meal frequency diet was significantly lower than the initial value(p<0.02). 4.the difference between blood glucose serum at the end of the high meal frequency period and at the end of the low meal frequency period was also statistically significant)p<0.05). 5.despite the high decrease in mean triglyceride level after 2 weeks of high frequency meal diet consumptiom,the differences as compared to the low-frequency and regular diets,were not significant.it can be concluded that an 8 meal diet brings reductions in fasting blood glucous levels,and improves glucose tolerance in NIDDM patients.