Dietary Pattern or Weight Loss: Which One Is More Important to Reduce Disease Activity Score in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis? A Randomized Feeding Trial
Table 1
Patient’s characteristics before enrollment to the study.
Groups variables
Controls (N = 50)
LF-HC (N = 53)
MD (N = 51)
value
Age, years
59.2 ± 11.6
58.4 ± 10.9
57.7 ± 12.6
0.09
Sex
Male
33 (66.7)
32 (61)
31 (60)
0.2
Female
17 (33.3)
21 (39)
20 (40)
Weight, kg
64.9 ± 10.8
70.9 ± 11.1
74.1 ± 12.3
<0.001
BMI, kg/m2
26.6 ± 4.4
27.9 ± 4.5
28.5 ± 4.9
0.005
Energy intake, kcal/d
2762.5 ± 197.3
2845.6 ± 200.5
2872.5 ± 205.4
0.8
Protein, g/d
63.5 ± 5.6
67.2 ± 4.8
65.01 ± 6.7
0.7
Carbohydrate, g/d
320.5 ± 11.9
318.6 ± 15.4
345.6 ± 9.8
0.09
Fat, g/d
110 ± 5.7
122.4 ± 6.5
118.9 ± 5.6
0.2
MUFAs, g/d
34.6 ± 5.4
43.5 ± 9.7
40.9 ± 7.6
0.08
PUFAs, g/d
44.9 ± 9.5
46.2 ± 8.7
46.6 ± 9.1
0.9
SFAs, g/d
30.5 ± 6.8
32.7 ± 7.5
31.4 ± 6.9
0.3
Swollen joints
1.1 ± 2.6
0.95 ± 1.9
2.4 ± 3.5
0.01
Tenderness joints
7.4 ± 4.2
7.35 ± 4.2
6.2 ± 4.4
0.24
ESR, mm/h
25.3 ± 16.9
21.3 ± 18.03
19.7 ± 11.6
0.08
DAS 28
3.8 ± 0.91
3.5 ± 0.88
3.6 ± 0.92
0.2
VAS
5.6 ± 1.4
4.7 ± 1.5
5.1 ± 1.6
0.006
LF-HC, low-fat high-carbohydrate diet; MD, Mediterranean diet; BMI, body mass index; MUFA, mono unsaturated fatty acids, PUFAs, poly unsaturated fatty acids; SFAs, saturated fatty acids; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; VAS, visual analogue scale; DAS 28, disease activity score 28.