Effect of whole-grain plant-based diet on the diabetes mellitus type 2 features in newly diagnosed patients: a pilot study

Fifteen diabetic patients, with a duration of 4.9 months with diabetes and an average age of 49.6 ± 8.6 years, participated in a pilot study for 12 weeks to assess the effect of plant-based diet on their diabetes features. Participants were 2 females and 13 males and their baseline measurements were 30.2 ±5.4 kg/m2, 189.2 ± 76.3 mg/dL and 9.4 ± 2.5% for body mass index [BMI], fasting blood glucose [FBG] and HbA1c, respectively. Participant’s adherence to the dietary programme on a scale of 0–10 was 8 ± 1.5. Their endpoint BMI, FBG and HbA1c were 28.7 ± 4.3 kg/m2, 102.6 ± 19.8 mg/dL and 6.2 ± 0.8%, respectively. Weight loss was significantly correlated with baseline body weight, baseline BMI and duration in diabetes, while baseline fasting blood glucose was correlated with baseline and endpoint HbA1c [p < 0.01]. However, it was not significantly correlated with endpoint body weight [p < 0.08] and BMI [p < 0.018]. This study has shown that management of body parameters [weight and BMI] through diet such as plant-based diet has resulted in significant reduction in diabetes parameters such as FBG and HbA1c. A larger number of participants are recommended in similar type of studies to have solid conclusions.