Diabetes Patients’ Perception of Diet—Facts and Fads

Aim: Diet and knowledge of it plays a crucial role in the management of diabetes. The purpose of the study was to survey diabetes patients’ awareness of the basic ingredients of diet and their insights into the facts and fads of their daily dietary constituents. Methods: An objective qualitative questionnaire-based assessment was performed among outpatient diabetes patients who visited Apollo Sugar diabetes care center in a metropolitan city, India. The questionnaire was answered by patients in a simple ’Yes’ or ’No’ format relevant to their awareness of various foods. The questions were about the protein, carbohydrate, fat constitution, quantity that could be consumed, and myths surrounding various food products they come across in their daily routine. Patients’ perception of diet was categorized into ’correct’ and ’incorrect’ depending on their response to each question mentioned in a 10-point questionnaire. A score of ’1’ was given for each ’correct’ answer and ’0’ for an ’incorrect’ answer. Total maximum score each diabetic patient can score is 10/10 and a minimum of 0/10. Appropriate statistics were applied to test the results at significance p ≤0.05. Results: Total 581 patients with diabetes were assessed in this study. Patients included were in age range 16 to 85 years with median age of 56 years. Males and females were 60% and 40%, respectively. Among these patients a mean score of 4.5 and median score of 4 was achieved in the questionnaire. 35 (6%) patients achieved the maximum score of 10/10 and 74 (12.7%) patients had a minimum score of 0/10. There was no significant difference in the mean score achieved between males (4.1) and females (3.9). Though it was not statistically significant there was a negative correlation between age and the score (-0.06; p = 0.2). Conclusion: The survey gave us useful insights into the lack of awareness about daily food products in diabetic patients. Majority of them didn’t have adequate knowledge, which recommends for a thorough diet counseling to improve their dietary patterns for better clinical outcomes. Disclosure R.S. Erukulapati: None. S. Yalamanchili: None. S. Rani: None.