Chicken Diet Better Than Red Meat...

MedscapeWire
Chicken Diet Better Than Red Meat in Type 2 Diabetes


Laurie Barclay, MD


NEW YORK (MedscapeWire) Apr 29 — Substituting chicken for red meat may be best for patients with type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria, according to an article in the April issue of Diabetes Care. Results of a randomized crossover trial suggest that this diet improved lipid levels and urinary albumin excretion rates compared with a low protein diet or normal diet.
"A diet in which red meat is replaced with chicken might represent an alternative or additional strategy for the treatment of microalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes," write Jorge L. Gross and colleagues from the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre in Brazil.

Of 28 patients with type 2 diabetes (mean age, 58 years), 15 patients were normoalbuminuric, with urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) less than 20 mcg/min, and 13 patients were microalbuminuric (UAER, 20-200 mcg/min). In normoalbuminuric patients, glomerular filtration rate after the chicken and low-protein diets was lower than after the usual diet.

In microalbuminuric patients, apolipoprotein B levels were lower after the chicken and low-protein diets than after the usual diet. Only the chicken diet reduced UAER (median, 34.3 mcg/min) compared with the low-protein (median, 52.3 mcg/min) and usual (median, 63.8 mcg/min) diets (P<.05). Glycemic control and blood pressure did not change after the diets.

The authors suggest that the beneficial effect of chicken compared with red meat could be related to lower saturated fat and higher percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids including linolenic and arachidonic acid. They recommend long-term studies with outcomes assessment including progression to renal failure and cardiovascular mortality.