[Liberalized diabetic diet for type I diabetics under intensive insulin injection therapy. Follow-up observations for...

The dietary habits and metabolic status of 14 selected ambulant type-1 diabetics, who were previously treated with conventional insulin therapy, were investigated over a period of 2 years under intensified insulin injection therapy. In this, multiple doses of regular insulin in combination with intermediate-acting insulin were injected daily and the regular metabolic controls as well as adjustment of the insulin dosage were undertaken by the patients themselves. Whereas conventional insulin therapy made exclusive use of intermediate-acting insulin, 41% of the daily dose in the intensified insulin injection therapy was regular insulin. The total daily insulin dose of 51 +/- 12 U/d was therefore not significantly different from that in the conventional insulin therapy (49 +/- 10 U/d). During the intensified insulin injection therapy the usual diabetic diet was relaxed in several aspects: neither the daily intake of fat, protein and calories, nor substitution in the diet using exchange lists was specified. Despite this liberalization HbA1c values decreased significantly from 9.3 +/- 1.2% to 7.8 +/- 0.7% (P less than 0.05) and blood lipids remained in the normal range. The results of this retrospective investigation lead to the conclusion that despite some measure of diet liberalization, selected, trained, type-1 diabetics of normal body weight and without primary dyslipoproteinaemia can attain good metabolic control under intensified insulin injection therapy.