Effect of Cucurbita ficifolia and Probiotic Yogurt Consumption on Blood Glucose, Lipid Profile, and Inflammatory Marker in Type 2 Diabetes

Azade Bayat; Fatemeh Azizi-Soleiman; Motahar Heidari-Beni; Awat Feizi; Bijan Iraj; Reza Ghiasvand; Gholamreza Askari

doi:10.4103/2008-7802.175455

Effect of Cucurbita ficifolia and Probiotic Yogurt Consumption on Blood Glucose, Lipid Profile, and Inflammatory Marker in Type 2 Diabetes

Int J Prev Med. 2016 Feb 2:7:30. doi: 10.4103/2008-7802.175455. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Azade Bayat¹, Fatemeh Azizi-Soleiman², Motahar Heidari-Beni³, Awat Feizi⁴, Bijan Iraj⁵, Reza Ghiasvand¹, Gholamreza Askari¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
² Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
³ Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
⁵ Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Control of blood sugar, hypertension, and dyslipidemia are key factors in diabetes management. Cucurbita ficifolia (pumpkin) is a vegetable which has been used traditionally as a remedy for diabetes in Iran. In addition, consumption of probiotics may have beneficial effects on people with Type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was an investigation of the effects of C. ficifolia and probiotic yogurt consumption alone or at the same time on blood glucose and serum lipids in diabetic patients.

Methods: Eighty eligible participants randomly were assigned to four groups: 1 - green C. ficifolia (100 g); 2 - probiotic yogurt (150 g); 3 - C. ficifolia plus probiotic yogurt (100 g C. ficifolia plus 150 g yogurt); and 4 -control (dietary advice) for 8 weeks. Blood pressure, glycemic response, lipid profile, and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were measured before and after the intervention.

Results: Total cholesterol (TC) decreased significantly in yogurt and yogurt plus C. ficifolia groups (within groups P = 0.010, and P < 0.001, respectively). C. ficifolia plus yogurt consumption resulted in a decrease in triglyceride (TG) and an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (within groups P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively). All interventions led to a significant decrease in blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), hsCRP, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level within groups. Blood pressure decreased significantly in Cucurbita group and yogurt group (within groups P < 0.001, and P = 0.001 for systolic blood pressure [SBP] and P < 0.001, and P = 0.004 for diastolic blood pressure [DBP], respectively). All variables changed between groups significantly except LDL-C level.

Conclusions: Variables including TG, HDL-C, TC, fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, SBP, DBP, and hsCRP changed beneficially between groups. It seems that consumption of C. ficifolia and probiotic yogurt may help treatment of diabetic patients.

Keywords: Glycemic response; Type 2 diabetes; inflammatory marker; lipid profile; probiotic yogurt; pumpkin.