Type-2 diabetes appears chiefly in middle-aged adults who are overweight and who have type-2 diabetes in their family. Diet, exercise and treatment of other risk factors are necessary in order to control blood glucose levels (glycaemia), to reduce the risk of complications, especially cardiovascular, ocular, renal or neurological, and to reduce mortality.

A trial involving overweight patients with recently discovered type-2 diabetes compared the effect of a low-fat diet (less than 30% of calories from fats and less than 10% from saturated fats) to a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables and olive oil, with less red meat and more chicken and fish (less than 50% of calories from carbohydrates and more than 30% from fats).

After 4 years’ monitoring, the Mediterranean diet proved more effective in delaying the need for glucose-lowering medication than the diet low in saturated fat: respectively, 44% of patients versus 70% went on medication to reduce blood glucose levels.

One more argument in favour of a Mediterranean diet for these patients, both for weight loss and to reduce blood glucose levels.

©Prescrire December 2010

Source : "Diabète de type 2.Régime méditerranéen pour maîtriser l’HbA1c" Rev Prescrire 2010; 30 (323): 691.