The compliance of hypocaloric diet in type 2 diabetic obese patients: a brief-term study

In studies of the effect of diets in obese type 2 diabetic patients, information about the degree of compliance or non-compliance is generally lacking or incomplete, though their poor long-term success rate is widely recognized. We have quantified the degree of short-term compliance with a personalized hypocaloric diet (800-1500 kcal) in 77 obese type 2 diabetic patients (mean age 60, mean BMI 34.4) three months after explaining their dietary schedule and its expected advantages by means of simple but essential nutritional advice lasting about 20 minutes of the type currently used for such patients attending diabetes care institutions or outpatient departments. Even though a mean 14% reduction in daily food intake was achieved, the mean daily energy intake at the interview (assessed by means of the 3-day recall method) still exceeded the prescribed diet by 40-50%. The worst compliance in terms of total excess energy intake or carbohydrate and fat intake was found in the older patients. The greater the excess of food intake, the poorer the metabolic control, as expected.