Dietary Habits of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus-An Exploratory Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Eastern India

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a medical condition that is caused by insufficient production and/or secretion of insulin from the pancreas. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) accounts for 90 to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes and is the most common form. Diet plays an important role in T2DM. Aim: To explore the dietary habits of patients with T2DM. Materials and Methods: It was a hospital-based exploratory study and cross-sectional in nature done to provide inputs for the interventions and the informatics tool in the clinical trial of the researchers. A total of 100 consecutive OPD patients with T2DM were included. Dietary habits were explored using 72- hour recall method and analysed using SPSS. Results were expressed as proportions for categorical data and mean with standard deviation. Results: Out of 100 participants, 58% were male with mean age of 54.25±12.03 years. The mean BMI was 23.99±4.36 kg/m2 . Overweight and obesity was seen in 48% and 17%, respectively. Recall bias was 28% for dietary intake in past 24-48 hours and 48% for intake 48-72 hours. A 77% of patients told that they could follow the advice of their doctor or dietician, but 67% were taking the recommended diet. Out of study subjects, 51% told that they face difficulties in obeying the diet advice and the difficulties listed were food craving, traveling, nature of job, etc. More than 20% patients were not taking food on time and the reasons quoted were nature of the job, carelessness, etc. A 62% of patients were avoiding sweets but 77% were found taking foods with high glycaemic index. Conclusion: Intervention in the form of intensive diet education including behaviour change and communication activities during hospital visits may be needed regarding the role of various food items (with emphasis to high glycaemic index) in controlling diabetes and preventing complications, and has to be captured in the tool planned for public health informatics trial.

Keywords

• diabetic
• diet
• glycaemic index
• life style
• obesity