Vegetarian diet vs. conventional diabetic diet and their influence on the quality of life and eating behavior in patients with type 2 diabetes during 6 months intervention
Abstract
Subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus were randomly assigned to experimental group (EG) following vegetarian diet or control group (CG) following conventional diabetic diet with the same caloric restriction. Participants were examined at baseline, 12 weeks of diet intervention and 24 weeks (second 12 weeks of diet were combined with aerobic exercise) using depression scale (Beck Depression Inventory), questionnaire on quality of life, and eating behavior.
Average weight loss was greater in the EG than in the CG. There were no differences between groups in the average BDI score at start, which did not reach the threshold of depressive symptoms.
The quality of life significantly improved in both groups. The symptoms caused by overweight and obesity significantly decreased.
The results show a remarkable positive effect of the diet and exercise intervention on psychological variables, on the quality of life, and the BDI score.