effect of legume intake in the therapeutic life style diet changes in insulin resistance in overweight type 2 diabetic patients

background and aim: the aim of this study was to determine the effect of legume intake in therapeutic lifestyle change (tlc) on fasting insulin, fasting blood glucose, hba1c and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (homa-ir) in patients with type 2 diabetes. materials and methods: in this randomized crossover trial, 31 subjects with type 2 diabetes in the age range of 50 to 80 years were selected. the subjects were randomly assigned to two groups receiving diets of therapeutic lifestyle change or the therapeutic lifestyle change with legumes (replacing meat with 2 servings of legumes in their therapeutic lifestyle change diet, three days a week). period of each diet was 8 weeks with a 4 week washout period. fasting blood samples were taken to measure the fasting insulin, fasting plasma glucose, hba1c homa-ir. results: after 8 weeks of intervention, fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin and homa-ir in both diets significantly reduced compared with baseline values (p<0.05). compared with the tlc diet, in tlc diet with legumes, fasting insulin, fasting plasma glucose, and homa-ir was significantly decreased (p<0.05). no significant change was observed in hba1c concentration. conclusion: replacement of 2 servings of legumes instead of meat 3 days a week in the tlc diet resulted in improved glycemic control and insulin resistance among type 2 diabetic patients.