# Effectiveness of a Nutrition Education Program for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
## 3 Results
### Efficacy of the Nutrition Education Intervention
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l} \hline \hline
**Characteristics \({}^{*}\)** & **At Baseline** & **After Intervention** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline Body weight (Kg) & 81.8 \(\pm\) 17.2 & 77.8 \(\pm\) 16.3 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ BMI (kg/m\({}^{2}\)) & 28.8 \(\pm\) 5.0 & 27.1 \(\pm\) 5.4 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Waist circumference (cm) & 107.4 \(\pm\) 26.0 & 103.4 \(\pm\) 25.5 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Hip circumference (cm) & 96.8 \(\pm\) 24.0 & 94.5 \(\pm\) 23.6 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Waist–hip ratio & 1.2 \(\pm\) 0.1 & 1.1 \(\pm\) 0.1 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ HbA1c (\%) & 7.2 (6.4–8) & 7.6 (6.7–7.7) & 0.672 \({}^{*}\) \\ Postprandial blood glucose (mg/dL) & 161.6 \(\pm\) 36.0 & 131.9 \(\pm\) 26.7 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Fasting glucose (mg/dL) & 110.7 \(\pm\) 19.5 & 99.5 \(\pm\) 13.9 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Total cholesterol (mg/dL) & 183.0 \(\pm\) 41.1 & 165.8 \(\pm\) 26.8 & 0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ LDL-c (mg/dL) & 96.2 \(\pm\) 35.4 & 89.4 \(\pm\) 20.0 & 0.002 \({}^{*}\) \\ HDL-c (mg/dL) & 48.2 \(\pm\) 15.5 & 47.1 \(\pm\) 6.5 & 0.443 \({}^{*}\) \\ TG (mg/dL) & 154.7 (150.7–154.7) & 119.7 (69.7–120.7) & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{**}\) \\ SBP (mmHg) & 14.2 \(\pm\) 11.4 & 11.8 \(\pm\) 0.9 & 0.056 \({}^{*}\) \\ DBP (mmHg) & 8.8 \(\pm\) 7.9 & 8.0 \(\pm\) 0.4 & 0.342 \({}^{*}\) \\ Atherogenic index & 4.1 \(\pm\) 1.3 & 3.5 \(\pm\) 0.5 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Uric acid (mg/dL) & 6.5 \(\pm\) 1.7 & 6.2 \(\pm\) 1.4 & 0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Body fat (\%) & 32.9 \(\pm\) 7.8 & 29.2 \(\pm\) 7.6 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Visceral fat (\%) & 11.8 \(\pm\) 0.1 & 10.2 \(\pm\) 0.1 & \textless{}0.001 \({}^{*}\) \\ Muscle mass (\%) & 88.7 \(\pm\) 4.3 & 83.1 \(\pm\) 5.8 & 0.331 \({}^{*}\) \\ Daily calorie intake (kcal) & 1659.7 \(\pm\) 285.9 & 1631.4 \(\pm\) 267.3 & 0.002 \({}^{*}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \(\beta\): body weight, BMI: body mass index, WC: waist circumference, HC: hip circumference, WHR: waist-to-hip ratio, HbA1c: glycated hemoglobin, BGP: blood glucose postprandial, FBG: fasting blood glucose, TC: total cholesterol, HDL: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, TG: triglycerides, SBP: systolic blood pressure, DBP: diastolic blood pressure, AI: atherogenic index, UA: uric acid, BF: body fat, VF: visceral fat, MM: muscle mass, DCI: daily calorie intake. Data are mean \(\pm\) standard deviation (SD) or median value (interquartile range). \({}^{*}\)\(p\) values for the comparison with baseline by paired \(t\)-test. \({}^{**}\)\(p\) values for the comparison with baseline by Wilcoxon test.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Somatometric characteristics, biochemical variables and 24 h dietary recall results of the participants (N = 88) at baseline and after three months of the nutrition education intervention. Figure 2: The participants who followed the nutritional guidelines before the intervention (%). Based on the 24 h reminders at the beginning and end of the study, 73.4% of patients reduced their daily calorie intake and 5.9% increased their consumption of high-fiber foods by the third month, a large percentage (from 67.8% at the first visit to 59.8% in the third month) reduced their alcohol consumption, 5.9% opted for plant-based foods in place of meat, chicken and fish, while 5.2% made no changes to their dietary habits (Figure 3). Regarding patients' participation in physical activities, the percentage increased slightly by the third month, such as brisk walking, cycling or playing a friendly game of basketball or soccer (moderate to vigorous physical activity) (Figure 1). A significant percentage of patients skipped meals both at the beginning and at the end of the study (especially dinner (55.2%)) (Figure 4), although skipping breakfast and afternoon snacks was less frequent in the third month of the intervention and the differences were statistically significant (\(p<0.05\)) (Figure 4). Lunch was the only meal that was not skipped by anyone. Figure 4: Percentage (%) of meal-skipping in participants.