Association of modified Nordic diet with cardiovascular risk factors among type 2 diabetes patients: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: cardiovascular disease (cvd) is one of the most important causes of mortality. healthy diets can decrease cvds and other chronic diseases especially in patients with type 2 diabetes. in this study, we investigate association between adherence to the modified nordic diet and cardiovascular risk factors among patients with type 2 diabetes. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted among 339 type 2 diabetic patients. anthropometric indices, blood pressure, and biochemical tests were evaluated. a validated and reliable semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (ffq) was used to assess dietary intake. nordic diet scores were calculated based on median intakes of six food groups. results: body mass index (bmi) was higher among participants who were in the lowest tertile of adherence to the nordic diet (p = 0.006). there was a significant association between socioeconomic status (ses) and adherence to the nordic diet (p < 0.0001). participants who were in the top category of adherence to the diet had significantly lower levels of a spartate aminotransferase (ast) (p < 0.0001). there was a significant inverse association between adherence to the nordic diet and low density lipoprotein (ldl) levels (odds ratio [or] = 0.29 95% ci: 0.09, 0.91, p = 0.025), high systolic blood pressure (sbp) levels (or = 0.35 95% ci = 0.17-0.74, p = 0.015), and risk of obesity (or = 0.25 95% ci: 0.10, 0.63, p = 0.03). conclusion: results suggest that adherence to the nordic diet is associated with reductions in the prevalence of obesity, ldl levels and blood pressure among type 2 diabetic patients. however, additional studies are needed to confirm these findings.