Dietary and Health-Related Lifestyle Habits and Blood Parameters of Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Patients

Controlling dietary behaviors and health-related lifestyle habits is important to manage non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). If NIDDM is not treated properly, the prevalence of macro-vascular complications (MC) may increase. The goal of NIDDM therapy is to maintain normal concentrations of blood glucose and lipid profiles by having regular meals, controlling alcohol drinking, quitting smoking, and performing physical exercise regularly. This study was performed to investigate the dietary and health-related lifestyle habits and blood parameters of NIDDM patients of both genders and compared these characteristics between the patients with and without MC. Our results show that the subjects with MC compared to without MC and the female patients than the males controlled their diets more regularly, tended to regulate the number of meals better, and smoke less than those without MC. Although plasma lipid profiles were not significantly different between the genders and between the subjects with and without MC, the men had higher blood glucose and plasma tHcy concentrations than the women and plasma tHcy concentration was higher in the female subjects without MC. These results imply that the male patients of NIDDM without MC might have more problems in maintaining their blood glucose. In addition, smoking may be the most important life-style factor influencing some blood parameters like blood glucose, HbAlc, and total cholesterol in the NIDDM patients.