Dietary glycemic load and metabolic status in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in southeastern China.

Background And Objectives: Large-scale epidemiological investigations worldwide have shown that dietary glycemic load is associated with metabolic diseases, including diabetes. However, only a few studies have examined the correlations between glycemic load and blood glucose and lipids in Chinese diabetic patients. Therefore, this study aimed to determine these correlations in southeastern China.

Methods And Study Design: 201 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 126 participants with normal blood glucose were enrolled at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Guangdong Province. Carbohydrate intake and glycemic load were assessed based on 3-day dietary records. Using glycemic load as the dependent variable, a correlation analysis and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the correlations between glycemic load and blood glucose and lipids.

Results: The mean glycemic load in diabetic patients was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that glycemic load was positively correlated with body mass index and glycated hemoglobin in diabetic patients (p<0.05) but negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in all subjects (p<0.05). Multivariable regression analysis indicated that, among participants in southeastern China, a higher glycemic load increased the odds of having diabetes, a low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and higher Charlson weighted index of comorbidities score, as well as being overweight.

Conclusions: A high-glycemic load diet may be associated with a risk of diabetes, glycemic control, lipid metabolism, prognosis of diseases, and body composition. It is necessary to control dietary glycemic load for both patients with diabetes and healthy people in southeastern China.