People with type 1 diabetes are more likely to develop kidney disease if they are repeatedly losing and gaining weight, new research has revealed.
Otherwise known as yo-yo dieting, body weight cycling is associated with renal complications among individuals living with type 1 diabetes, academics from France have said.
More than 50% of women and 35% of men are classed as yo-yo dieters, latest figures have reported.
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Prior studies have shown that body weight cycling can trigger the development of cardiovascular events.
According to the research team, obesity rates are significantly increasing among the type 1 diabetes population.
Senior author Dr Marion Camoin said: “We showed that high body weight variability is associated with increased risk of different outcomes of diabetic kidney disease progressions in people with type 1 diabetes, independently of traditional diabetic kidney disease risk factors. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing this association.”
Throughout the trial, the team of researchers looked at the kidney health of 1,432 participants from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study.
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They found that the participants with the most weight fluctuations saw a 40% decline in estimated glomerular filtration fate from baseline.
In addition, the participants classed as yo-yo dieters were more at risk of exhibiting moderately and severely increased albuminuria – a condition where there is too much of the protein albumin in the urine, which is common among people with kidney disease.
“Strategies aimed at weight reduction in people with type 1 diabetes should focus on promoting long-term weight maintenance, as weight stability may have a positive impact on health outcomes,” said the authors.
Read the study in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
