Metabolic measures
BLOOD, INSULIN SENSITIVITY
At baseline and the end of the trial, 10 ml fasting blood was collected from each patient at the Kashan laboratory (Iran) in the early morning after an overnight fast. Blood was collected in two separate tubes: (1) one without EDTA to separate the serum to determine serum insulin, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), lipid profiles, and high sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP) concentration and (2) another one containing EDTA to examine plasma nitric oxide (NO), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total glutathione (GSH), and malondialdehyde (MDA). Blood samples were immediately centrifuged (Hettich D‐78532, Tuttlingen, Germany) at 3500 rpm for 10 min to separate plasma and serum. Then, the samples were stored at −80°C before analysis at the Kashan laboratory. Serum insulin status was measured using an ELISA kit (Diametra, Italy) with inter‐ and intra‐assay coefficient variances (CVs) of 4.5% and 2.6%, respectively. Quantitative insulin sensitivity checks index (QUICKI) and homeostasis model of assessment‐insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) were calculated using the established formulas (Pisprasert et al., 