A Comparison of a Pulse-Based Diet and the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Diet in Combination with Exercise and Health Counselling on the Cardio-Metabolic Risk Profile in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 10; no. 10; p. 1387
• Main Authors: Kazemi, Maryam, McBreairty, Laura E, Chizen, Donna R, Pierson, Roger A, Chilibeck, Philip D, Zello, Gordon A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 30.09.2018; MDPI AG
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Blood Glucose - analysis; Cardiovascular Diseases; Counseling; Diet; dietary intake; Exercise; Fabaceae; Female; glucose; Glycemic Index; Humans; insulin; Insulin - blood; Insulin Resistance; Lens Plant; Life Style; lifestyle; lipid; Lipids - blood; Metabolic Diseases; metabolic syndrome; physical activity; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - diet therapy; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - therapy; pulse foods; Risk Factors; Single-Blind Method; metabolic syndrome; glucose; dietary intake; insulin; pulse foods; lipid; lifestyle; physical activity
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu10101387

We compared the effects of a low-glycemic index pulse-based diet, containing lentils, beans, split peas, and chickpeas, to the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet on cardio-metabolic measures in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Ninety-five women (18⁻35 years) enrolled in a 16-week intervention; 30 women in the pulse-based and 31 in the TLC groups completed the study. Women participated in aerobic exercise training (minimum 5 days/week for 45 min/day) and were counselled (monthly) about PCOS and lifestyle modification. Women underwent longitudinal follow-up post-intervention. The pulse-based group had a greater reduction in total area under the curve for insulin response to a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (mean change ± SD: -121.0 ± 229.9 vs. -27.4 ± 110.2 µIU/mL × min; = 0.05); diastolic blood pressure (-3.6 ± 6.7 vs. -0.2 ± 6.7 mmHg, = 0.05); triglyceride (-0.2 ± 0.6 vs. 0.0 ± 0.5 mmol/L, = 0.04); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-0.2 ± 0.4 vs. -0.1 ± 0.4 mmol/L, = 0.05); total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC/HDL-C; -0.4 ± 0.4 vs. 0.1 ± 0.4, < 0.001); and a greater increase in HDL-C (0.1 ± 0.2 vs. -0.1 ± 0.2 mmol/L, < 0.01) than the TLC group. Decreased TC/HDL-C ( = 0.02) at six-month and increased HDL-C and decreased TC/HDL-C ( ≤ 0.02) at 12-month post-intervention were maintained in the pulse-based group. A pulse-based diet may be more effective than the TLC diet at improving cardio-metabolic disease risk factors in women with PCOS. CinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT01288638.