Lifestyle Weight-Loss Programs Improve HbA1c in Type 2 Diabetes patients

Written By : Aditi |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2023-04-24T09:30:59+05:30 | Updated On 24 April 2023 3:23 PM IST

According to a study published in Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, researchers have concluded that lifestyle weight-loss interventions like dietary changes and physical exercise affect HbA1c levels in Asians, Whites/Caucasians, Blacks/Africans and Hispanics with a history of T2DM.

The researchers ordered these changes in HbA1 levels as Whites/Caucasians (most beneficial effect) followed by Asians, Blacks/Africans and Hispanics/Latinos ( no changes). Researchers also added that HbA1c levels were significantly reduced in those with weight loss of > 5%.

The primary fundamental for the treatment and remission of diabetes is Weight reduction. Researchers assessed ethnic differences among Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) adults regarding the effects of lifestyle weight-loss interventions on HbA1c levels. The databases searched were PubMed/MEDLINE and Web of Science, and selected those RCTs using lifestyle weight-loss interventions in overweight or obese adults with T2DM were selected.

Researchers identified Thirty studies, including 7580 subjects from different ethnicities.

The study results could be summarised as follows:

The lifestyle weight-loss intervention reduced Hb1Ac levels significantly.
The beneficial effect was most significant in White/Caucasians with WMD of -0.59 and Asians having WMD of -0.48.
The effects were not promising in the Black/African or Hispanic groups.

Concluding further, lifestyle weight-loss interventions drastically improves the HbA1c profile in T2DM patients with varying results in different ethnicities.

The study's findings highlight that ethnical difference is important in optimizing diabetes management.

The study has limitations like lack of ethnicity information, the small number of RCTs, and the lack of reports regarding diabetes duration and medication use.

BDS, MDS in Periodontics and Implantology

Dr. Aditi Yadav is a BDS, MDS in Periodontics and Implantology. She has a clinical experience of 5 years as a laser dental surgeon. She also has a Diploma in clinical research and pharmacovigilance and is a Certified data scientist. She is currently working as a content developer in e-health services. Dr. Yadav has a keen interest in Medical Journalism and is actively involved in Medical Research writing.

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751