Impact of Fasting during Ramadan on Daily Habits, Diet and Body Weight of individuals with diabetes: A sample of Saudi Arabia

@#Introduction: Many changes occur in Muslims’ lives during Ramadan that affect body weight, diet and calorie intake. This study investigated the impacts of fasting during Ramadan on the daily habits, diet, and weight of people with diabetes in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cohort study analyzed 104 Saudi individuals with diabetes (42 and 62 patients with type I and type II diabetes, respectively) aged ≥ 20 years who fasted a minimum of 15 days during Ramadan. The patients were seen twice per study period (before and during Ramadan). The patients’ demographic data was obtained, their average daily food intake was assessed, and anthropometric parameters were measured. Results: During Ramadan, 52% of patients with type I DM and 66% of patients with type II DM did not perform any physical activity compared to 37% and 42%, respectively, pre-Ramadan. A high percentage of patients slept during the daytime. A paired-sample T test analysis showed that during Ramadan, the calorie intake and carbohydrate intake increased significantly in patients with type II diabetes (p = 0.03). Protein intake remained unchanged, whereas fat consumption increased in patients with both types of diabetes (p = 0.03 and 0.04, respectively). In addition, there was a decrease in anthropometric parameters (statistically significant in patients with type II diabetes, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Ramadan fasting changed the dietary and daily habits of patients with diabetes in Saudi Arabia and had beneficial effects on weight, mainly in patients with type II DM.

Sleeping Patterns and Gastrointestinal Disorders According to the Shift Works in Female Textile Workers / 예방의학회지

To investigate the sleeping patterns and gastrointestinal disorders of shift workers, the auther studied 434 female workers who worked at textile industry ill Taejon city from september 1 ,1992 to september 31 ,1992. Shift pattern were divided into 3 categories; 3 shift (shifts per 8 hours), 2 shift (day and night shift) and day work. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The average sleeping hours when adjusted for the education level of the total study subjects was 6.1 hours. That of 3 shift workers was 6.1 hours, 2 shift workers was 6.0hours, but that of day workers was 6.5 hours. There were no significant difference among the shift workers. 2. For the 3 shift workers, the average physiologic adjusted duration in day shirt(2.2 days) was shorter than that or night shift(2.7 days) and there were significant difference among the rotating shift works (P<0.001). The sleeping problems in day shift was less than those of night shift (P<0.001). 3. 44.9% of 3 shift workers, 39.3% of 2 shift workers and 33.1% of day workers complained gastrointestinal symptoms when adjusted for the age, education level, job tenure, work post. And the rates of gastrointestinal symptoms complained increase with job tenures (P<0.001). 4. The most frequent gastrointestinal diseases were gastitis and gastric ulcer with 14.2 %, Irritable bowel syndrome with 3.1%, duodenitis and duodenal ulcer with 2.1% and combined gastrointestinal disease with 2.1%. Age, eating habit, amount of coffee per day, job tenure, work post and shift pattern showed no significant difference with the gastrointestinal diseases when adjusted for the age. According to the above results, the auther suggested that the shift pattern and job tenure can affect to the sleeping problem and gastrointestinal symptoms.