Evaluation of the relationship between nutrition status, biochemical parameters and intuitive eating in patients with Type 2 diabetes

This research was conducted to evaluate the relationship between nutritional status, anthropometric measurements, biochemical parameters and intuitive eating in individuals with Type-2 DM. The study is planned to be carried out with the participation of a minimum of 46 individuals with Type-2 DM who applied to Adana City Training and Research Hospital Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases Outpatient Clinic between 01.12.2019 and 01.06.2020 . However, due to the COVID-19 epidemic which has been effective all over the world since March 2020 and the patients with Type 2 DM being in the risk group, the surveys were carried out between 09.03.2020 - 01.06.2020 at the Hocalı Family Health Center (n = 38) and Akkapı No 2 Family Health Center (n = 10) with the participation of 48 patients with Type 2 DM according to routine blood analysis results. In order to determine the demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, and intuitive eating behaviors of the individuals participating in the study, Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), biochemical tests and food consumption records for 1 day on weekdays and 1 day on weekends were taken. The energy and nutrient consumption of the participants was calculated using the BeBIS (Nutrition Information Systems) program. The research data were analyzed using the SPSS 24.0 program. Descriptive statistics, Independent Group t-Test, Chi-square Test and Pearson Correlation Analysis were applied in the analysis. According to the results of the research, 77.1% of Type-2 diabetics regularly consume 3 main meals a day and 41.7% regularly consume 3 snacks a day. 22.9% of the participants skip the main meal and 43.8% of them skip the snacks during the day. The most frequently skipped meals were "lunch" (54.5%) and "night" snack (50.0%). Among the reasons for skipping meals, the desire to lose weight, lack of time and lack of habit stand out. There is no statistically significant relationship between the gender of the participants and their BMI, waist circumference and body fat ratio (p>0.05). Among the biochemical parameters of individuals with Type-2 DM, LDL and Total Cholesterol parameters are in the reference range, while HbA1c, FBG and HDL parameters are above the reference values. The average daily energy consumption is 1722.66 ± 162.92 kcal for women and 2195.94 ± 217.89 kcal for men. The ratio of meeting the recommended level of daily energy intake according to gender and age is 53.1% for women and 56.3% for men. The ratio of meeting the recommended daily energy level according to age and gender does not differ statistically (p> 0.05). The levels of carbohydrate, protein and fat in the daily diet are 59.72% ± 2.34, 17.43% ± 2.98 and 22.83 ± 3.46% in women, 60.98 ± 1.85%, 15.64 ± 1.31 and 23.36 ± 2.35% in men. Macronutrients in the daily energy intake of diabetic individuals do not differ according to gender (p>0.05). According to gender, the total score of the participants' intuitive eating scale and their UPE, EPR, RHSC scores do not differ significantly (p>0.05). B-FCC mean scores of women are significantly higher than men (p<0.05). There are statistically significant relationships between some sub-dimensions of the intuitive eating scale and HbA1c and FBG values (p<0.05), between BMI, waist circumference and body fat ratio (p<0.05), and between daily energy and fat intake (p<0.05). As a result of the research, results that partially support the relationship between intuitive eating, anthropometric measurements and biochemical parameters, nutritional status in individuals with type-2 diabetes were obtained. In order to obtain more comprehensive results, it is recommended to conduct more studies in different regions and with larger samples.