Iranian Journal of

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Background: Atherosclerotic complications are one the most common causes of death in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Epidemiological data indicate that the consumption of omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids (O3FA) leads to a reduction in cardiovascular disorders. The metabolic effect of this substance in patients with type 2 diabetes is still a matter of debate, however. The aim of this study was to assess the metabolic effect of O3FA in Iranian diabetic patients.
Methods: 50 diabetic patients (20 men and 30 women mean age 49±7.3 years) were randomly allocated to either the intervention (diet + fish oil containing O3FA) or the control group (diet alone). The lipid and glucose levels, blood pressure, and weight of each patient were measured at the beginning of the study. The duration of the study was 3 months. The aforementioned parameters were re-assessed at the end of the study.
Results: O3FA consumption was associated with a significant reduction in serum triglyceride levels (p<0.001). Reductions in weight, fasting blood sugar, and glycosylated haemoglobin were noted in the intervention group but were not statistically significant. No changes occurred in total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL levels. The dosage of oral hypoglycaemic agents was unchanged in both groups throughout the study.
Conclusion: O3FA may be recommended for the management of hypertriglyceridaemia.

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Background: The non-enzymatic glycosylation (NEG) of proteins in diabetes damages both the structure and function of these proteins. In vivo and in vitro studies have shown that NEG of proteins and advanced glycosylation end-products (AGE) contribute to the pathogenesis of both macrovascular, such as atherosclerosis, and microvascular complications, such as retinopathy and nephropathy, in diabetes.
Methods: We studied the electrophoretic mobility, fluorescence at isoelectric pH, and time-dependent AGE formation of glycosylated albumin. For the first time, we have used isoelectric focusing to study serum glycosylated albumin in diabetic patients and healthy controls. Results: After 10 weeks incubation with glucose, the electrophoretic mobility of glycosylated albumin increased 21.3% compared with normal albumin. The isoelectric pH of albumin decreased from 4.6 on day 1 to 4.1 on day 7. The increase in electrophoretic mobility was accompanied by the drop in pH during the first week of incubation. These changes correlated well with those observed by fluorescence. The glucose content of the albumin samples decreased during the first week of incubation, but gradually increased thereafter. Fluorescence readings agreed with these observations. Using isoelectric focusing, there was a significant difference between the serum albumin of diabetic and normal individuals (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Increased electrophoretic mobility during the first week with a simultaneous decline in isoelectric pH shows that AGE formation begins after the first week. The reduction in glucose concentration during the first week and its subsequent increase during the second week may be attributed to the formation and hydrolysis of AGE. This method may be used to determine the stability or progress of diabetes.

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Background: The prevalence of Diabetes mellitus as the most common metabolic disorder of human is progressively increasing. Dyslipidemia is common among diabetic patients characterized by elevated plasma TG, LDL-C and reduced HDL-C levels which increase risk of cardiovascular events. Fish oil supplement which contains omega-3 has been proposed to correct the atherogenic lipid profile associated with diabetes mellitus. Doubt remain whether the net effect of fish oil supplement on lipid profiles are beneficial in diabetes. We therefore performed this randomized double-blind clinical trial to investigate this.

Methods: Ninety six patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were randomized assigned to take 3 times daily supplementation (capsule) with either fish oil or corn oil for 8 weeks (48 patients in each group). At begining also end of study we measured laboratory variables (FBS, TG, Total cholesterol, LDL and HDL) in both groups.

Results: At begining of the study demographic and laboratory measurements were similar in both groups (P>0.05).At 8^th weeks there  were  no statistically  significant  differences  in variables  measured except for  LDL and HDL in fish oil  group that leads to increase and decrease respectively. Although both groups show improvement in LDL / HDL and Total cholesterol / HDL ratios but mean charges were statistically significant in fish oil as compared with corn oil group. (P=0.001, P=0.005 respectively).

Conclusion: Fish oil supplement showed statistically significant improvement in LDL/HDL, Total cholesterol/HDL ratios as compared with corn oil. This may leads to decrease cardiovascular events.