[Changes in dietary management of diabetic patients]

In the late 1990s, diet remains the cornerstone of diabetes therapy. Dietary and nutritional recommendations should seek to reduce the hyperglycaemic state which is the main risk factor for microangiopathy. Furthermore, the prevention of macrovascular complications should lead to dietary prescriptions that combine such properties as antiatherosclerotic, antithrombotic, and antihypertensive measures and such advantages as reducing oxidative stress. The means for achieving such objectives are, first, weight-loss interventions in obese patients and, secondly, the choice of a judicious balance between carbohydrates and monounsaturated fats in all individuals. Dietary measures must achieve a compromise between their acceptability by the patient and medical requirements. For that reason, caloric restriction should be moderate, leading to progressive weight loss (-3 kg monthly), with reasonable weight targets at the end of the weight-reduction period. Compliance with dietary advice usually results in significant savings in medical costs. However, long-term maintenance of dietary measures is difficult to achieve in most individuals, except those enrolled in well-structured training programmes.