About the Authors

Harvinder Kaur Gilcharan Singh

Contributed equally to this work with: Harvinder Kaur Gilcharan Singh, Winnie Siew Swee Chee

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

HarvinderKaur@imu.edu.my (HKGS); winnie_chee@imu.edu.my (WSSC)

Affiliation Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Winnie Siew Swee Chee

Contributed equally to this work with: Harvinder Kaur Gilcharan Singh, Winnie Siew Swee Chee

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

HarvinderKaur@imu.edu.my (HKGS); winnie_chee@imu.edu.my (WSSC)

Affiliation Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Osama Hamdy

Roles Validation, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States of America

Jeffrey Ian Mechanick

Roles Validation, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States of America

Verna Kar Mun Lee

Roles Methodology, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ankur Barua

Roles Methodology, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Siti Zubaidah Mohd Ali

Roles Methodology, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Department of Non-Communicable Diseases, Klinik Kesihatan Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Zanariah Hussein

Roles Methodology, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Hospital Putrajaya, Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan, Putrajaya, Malaysia

Competing Interests

The authors of this manuscript declare that there is no conflict of interest or potential competing interest for this work.The diabetes-specific formula was provided by Abbott Nutrition, Malaysia, who also funded the study. This does not alter the adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.