Withdrawal of red meat from the usual diet reduces albuminuria and improves serum fatty acid profile in type 2 diabetes patients with macroalbuminuria.
BACKGROUND
Replacement of red meat in the diet with chicken has reduced the urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and serum cholesterol in microalbuminuric type 2 diabetes patients. The effects of withdrawing red meat are unknown in the more advanced stages of diabetic nephropathy.


OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to assess the effects of replacing red meat in the usual diet (UD) with chicken (CD) and of consuming a lactovegetarian low-protein diet (LPD) on renal function, fatty acid, and lipid profile in macroalbuminuric type 2 diabetes patients.


METHODS
A crossover controlled trial was conducted in 17 type 2 diabetes patients with macroalbuminuria (24-h UAER > or = 200 microg/min). Each patient followed the UD, CD, and LPD in a random order for 4 wk. After each diet, glomerular filtration rate, UAER, serum fatty acid, lipid profile, glycemic control, anthropometric indexes, and blood pressure were measured.


RESULTS
UAER [median CD: 269.4 (range: 111-1128) microg/min; LPD: 229.3 (76.6-999.3) microg/min; UD: 312.8 (223.7-1223.7) microg/min; P < 0.01] and mean (+/-SD) non-HDL cholesterol (CD: 3.92 +/- 0.99 mmol/L; LPD: 3.92 +/- 0.93 mmol/L; UD: 4.23 +/- 1.06 mmol/L; P = 0.042) were lower after CD and LPD than after UD. Compared with the UD, an increase in serum total polyunsaturated fatty acids was also observed (CD: 39.8 +/- 2.6%; LPD: 39.7 +/- 4.4%; UD: 37.3 +/- 3.1%; P = 0.029).


CONCLUSIONS
In macroalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes, withdrawing red meat from the diet reduces the UAER.
de Mello
Vanessa D F
VD
Endocrinology Division, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Zelmanovitz
Themis
T
Perassolo
Magda S
MS
Azevedo
Mirela J
MJ
Gross
Jorge L
JL