Effect of Ramadan fasting on anthropometric parameters and food consumption in 276 type 2 diabetic obese women

AIM: To assess the effect of Ramadan fasting on body weight and food consumption in type 2 diabetic obese women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 276 outpatient women receiving oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) (BMI = 34.63 ± 3.29 kg/m(2)), aged 49 (±6 years), were selected. The study was carried out over three periods - before (T1: prefasting), during (T2: fasting), and after (T3: postfasting) Ramadan - in three towns located in the northwestern region of Algeria. During the course of 3 days, the daily food intake and anthropometric parameters weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, body mass index (BMI), and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were recorded. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA test was used to compare the groups. RESULTS: The main effect of fasting during Ramadan was a significant weight loss (−3.12 kg i.e. 3.70%; P < 0.01), a decrease in meal frequency (2.2 ± 0.3 vs. 4.3 ± 0.4) as well as in energy intake (1488 ± 118 vs.1823 ± 262 Kcal/d) and an important increase in dietary fat consumption (35.84 vs. 25.36%), especially the saturated one (231Kca/d i.e. 43.25%) of total fat, dietary cholesterol (392 ± 121 vs. 221 ± 73 mg/d), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Except in three cases, there were no frequent hypoglycaemic episodes observed among the participants. CONCLUSIONS: Fasting during the month of Ramadan causes weight loss and decrease in calorie intake, which is correlated with a decrease in meal frequency. However, more foods rich in fat and dietary cholesterol were consumed during this period. The latter could constitute a high risk for diabetics who are fasting, in particular when medication advice and/or health care control are insufficient or ignored.