Association between eating behaviour and current glycaemic control, body mass or autonomic nervous function in long-term type I and type II diabetic patients.

This cross-sectional study was aimed at investigating the association between eating behaviour and current glycaemic control, body mass or autonomic nervous function in patients with type I and type II diabetes mellitus (DM). In 72 patients (31 type I DM, 41 type II DM) we investigated body mass index (BMI), serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and autonomic nervous function (seven standardized tests). The three-factor eating questionnaire was used to investigate cognitive control of eating behaviour (CC) and susceptibility to eating problems (SEP). The mathematical product of CC and SEP provides information about disinhibition of eating control (DEC). In type I DM, there was a correlation between SEP and age (r = -0.536, P < 0.01), SEP and HbA1c (0.438, P < 0.05), and between DEC and duration (-0.371, P < 0.05) and DEC and HbA1c (0.376, P < 0.05). In type II DM, there was a correlation between SEP and BMI (0.401, P < 0.01) and between DEC and BMI (0.429, P < 0.01). Low CC was associated with autonomic nervous dysfunction in type I DM (P = 0.022). In type II DM, autonomic nervous dysfunction was associated with high SEP (P = 0.044). In conclusion, the correlation between eating behaviour and HbA1c or triglycerides in type I DM indicates that the questionnaire is able to address current parameters of diabetes control. Self-assessment of eating behaviour in type I and type II diabetic patients reveals associations between eating behaviour and autonomic nervous function.