Abstract
Objectives
Nutrition therapy is crucial for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Preliminary data indicate that nutrition therapy delivered by accredited dietitians achieves better clinical outcomes than when delivered by other healthcare professionals. We compared dietetic intervention provided by accredited dietitians with nutrition advice provided by other healthcare professionals.
Methods
Systematic literature review and meta-analysis of RCTs of type 2 diabetes management programmes (3 months or more) implementing medical nutrition therapy and reporting changes in haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and other clinical outcomes that have been published in CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsychINFO between 2008 to 18th June 2019.
Results
Seven studies with a total of 950 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The mean changes [95% CI:] at six or twelve months follow-up in HbA1c, BMI, weight and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were –0.37 [–0.56, –0.19], –0.56 [–1.14, 0.02], –2.40 [–3.59, –1.20] and –0.16 [–0.29, –0.02] respectively in favour of the intervention group.
Conclusions
Nutrition intervention provided by a dietitian results in better clinical outcomes of type 2 diabetes, compared with that delivered by other healthcare professionals. Further longitudinal randomised studies are warranted to elucidate long-term (more than one year) effects of the interventions.
Funding Sources
Nil funding.