Role of Diet and Diet Interventions in Diabetic Patients: Physiological and Metabolic Changes and Reduction in Morbidity and Mortality

Evidence of the impact of diet and dietary components on cardiovascular risk factors and morbidity/mortality in diabetic patients over the last 3 years is reviewed. The review comprises a section focusing on the effects of diet on body weight reduction and other cardiovascular risk factors, and a section in which recent evidence on hard endpoints are discussed. Overall, the data accumulated in the period considered seem to confirm the recommendations for diabetes management. More intervention studies focusing on hard endpoints in dia-betic subjects are needed to prove in a definitive way the role of diet on the reduction of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, especially that concerning weight reduction.