Effect of Face to Face Nutrition Counseling on Metabolic Syndrome Parameters in Cigarette Quitters

Objective: Although smoking increase the risk of cardiovascula r diseases, its quitting leads to weight gain due to increased appetite. The aim of this study was to determine the effect o f face to face dietary counseling on metabolic syndrome (MetS) ind ices in cigarette quitter. Materials and Methods: This 9-week parallel randomized clinical trial was conducted by participation of 50 patients with metabolic syndrome who have recently quit smoking. Participants were assigned randomly into two groups. Interventio n group (IG) received weekly nutritional education and consultat ion, while control group (CG) did not receive any intervention . Before and after the trial, both groups were evaluated nutriti onally using 24- hour dietary recall questionnaire, and metabolic sy ndrome parameters were measured . Paired T-test and ANCOVA were used for statistical analysis. Results : After intervention, weight, body mass index (BMI), triglycerides and systolic blood pressure were sign ificantly different between CG and IG, while indices of low-density lip oprotein (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) and diastolic bloo d pressure were not significantly different between two groups. Amount of energy, lipid, protein, and carbohydrate intake were significantly lower in IG compare to CG. After adjustment of age, duration of smoking and the initial concentration of biochemical and anthropome tric factors, significant differences were found between IG and C G in the changes of LDL-C ( P -value 0.001), BMI ( P -value 0.001), weight ( P -value 0.001), waist circumference ( P -value 0.002), and triglyceride ( P -value 0.001).While the difference in changes of HDL-C, FB S, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, were not significant betw een two groups. Conclusion: Given the findings of this study, nutritional counseling could improve some indices of MetS in ci garette quitters.