Development of a new method for simple dietary education in elderly individuals with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Some elderly diabetic patients find it difficult to understand conventional dietary and nutritional education using a Japanese food exchange list. We developed a new method for simple dietary education including several dietary instructions. We compared the effects of simple dietary education on food intake, nutritional components, and glycemic control with conventional dietary education, using a randomized control trial. We randomly allocated 30 new elderly diabetic outpatients and 38 outpatients who had been visiting our clinic for a long time to the simple education group and the conventional education group. Before, and 2 or 3 months after simple or conventional education, we assessed food intake and nutritional components for a week using Yoshimura's food frequency questionnaire. In the new diabetic patients, simple and conventional nutritional education similarly reduced HbA1c levels as well as intakes of total energy, sweets, and fruits after the education. However, patients who had been visiting for a long time had no significant differences in total energy intake and HbA1c levels between before and after education in both the simple and conventional groups. Our results suggest that simple dietary education is useful and effective for elderly diabetic patients on their first visit.