ABSTRACT

This thesis presents the study on role of diet in Type-2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder with disturbance of carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism, basically related to the defect either in insulin secretion or insulin resistance or both. Type-2 diabetes mellitus is associated in the long term with multiple degenerative disorders affecting cardiovascular system, nervous system, eyes, kidneys and skins. Incident of diabetes increases markedly with age and degree of obesity. Prevalence of Type-2 diabetes mellitus comes out to be 4.66% in 2000 in Pakistan. Purpose of this study is to know the effect of diet in non-insulin dependent or Type-2 diabetes mellitus.

During the study, 100 cases of Type-2 diabetes mellitus were examined in Liaqat Medical College Hospital, Hyderabad, out of which 38 were male and 62 were females with age ranges from 40 to 72 years, 68 patients were above the age of 50 years. Glycemic and metabolic control of patient were assessed by fasting and postprandial blood glucose and LIPID profile. 68 patients were overweight while 28 were of normal weight and only 4 patients were under weight. Diet history revealed that 42% of patients were taking diet high in calories. 48% were taking normal calories and rest of the patients were taking less than the normal requirement. Patients were advised calorie controlled diet according to their weight, activities and occupation etc, but obese patients were given 500 less calories than required in order to achieve weight loss. Carbohydrates advised were mainly in the form of complex carbohydrates, which are rich in dietary fibers and are of low glycemic index i.e. cereals, vegetables, legumes & fruits. Pure sugary diets were avoided. For the fat, mainly vegetable oils were advised and for protein, animal protein was allowed.

The study showed that the low energy and low glycemic index foods are associated with good glycemic control.

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