A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the use of health foods among outpatients with diabetes mellitus (DM) at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido Hospital.Responses were obtained from 69.2% of the patients (180 out of 260).The proportions of patients who had used health foods previously or were using them at the time of the survey were 16.7 and 37.2%,respectively,indicating that more than half of the patients had experience of taking health foods and this was irrespective of sex and age.The most frequently consumed health foods were Aojiru (n=25)followed by Kurozu (n=24)and blueberry extract (n=17).Among the health foods taken,those that influence blood sugar considerably were guava leaves polyphenol (n=16),Gymnema sylvestre extract (n=1),Gymnema sylvestre tea (n=1),and Aloe Vera (n=1).One patient was taking a Chinese health food that contained glibenclamide.Many patients took health foods to keep healthy and as a nutritional supplement,and most of them had not consulted their doctors or pharmacists about the use of health foods.More than 70% of the patients targeted by this study had complications such as hypertension.Since there is a possibility of health foods aggravating DM and its complications and of interactions between them and drugs used to treat DM,doctors,pharmacists and other co-medical workers should provide patients with information on the ingredients of health foods as well the adverse effects that they could have.
