Patient empowerment and the Mediterranean diet as a possible tool to tackle prediabetes associated with overweight or obesity: a pilot study.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of implementation of short-term patient empowerment as applied to Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence on metabolic and anthropometric parameters in prediabetic overweight or obese subjects. The sample included 42 subjects with prediabetes, aged 18-75 years and with body mass index (BMI) > 25 kg/m Approximately 40.5% of subjects had achieved restoration of normal glucose tolerance by the end of the study. Fasting plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, visceral adiposity index, triglycerides, and total and LDL cholesterol levels were significantly decreased, while HDL cholesterol had significantly increased by the end of the study. The subjects significantly increased adherence to MD, as assessed by the PREDIMED questionnaire at follow-up. A reduction of prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was also reported. Interestingly, the PREDIMED score correlated with HbA1C values at follow-up, after adjusting for BMI and total caloric intake. Implementation of short-term patient empowerment as applied to MD adherence was shown to improve anthropometric and metabolic parameters in prediabetic overweight or obese subjects. This is of considerable importance, given that diet must be the cornerstone of treatment in patients at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.