Impact of Nutrition or Dietary Intake in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes

Running head: Type 2 Diabetes 1
Impact of Nutrition or Dietary Intake in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes
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Type 2 Diabetes 2
Introduction
The incidences of diabetes have been on the rise in both developed and developing countries
with the highest mortality rates being attributed to chronic conditions such as diabetes (Shaw,
Sicree, & Zimmet, 2010). Larger shares of government budgets have been allocated for the
treatment of chronic diseases including diabetes. For instance, the annual expenditures of the
Australian government on diabetes is 14 million dollars per year (Lee et al., 2013) but still,
the prevalence of diabetes is ever on the rise. This has prompted doctors and nurses in
focusing on the most effective intervention to prevent or manage the incidence of diabetes
across the world. Diabetes is a combination of common metabolic disorders leading to
hyperglycemia. Several studies have examined the impact of diet on chronic illnesses in
addition to exploring the role of individual nutrients and foods in the deterrence and control
of chronic conditions such as diabetes. There is a common consensus across studies that diet
is a significant aspect in the prevention and management of diabetes.
Consequently, more emphasis has been placed on the role of self-management education and
diet therapy in controlling and preventing diabetes. Despite the increase in studies in focusing
on the treatment of diabetes, the prevalence of diabetes is still on the rise and is expected to
remain as the leading factor in deaths in the future (Shaw, Sicree, & Zimmet, 2010). This
essay will conduct a review of the current relevant literature on “Impact of dietary intake in
the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes.” Various aspects of nutrition regarding
the prevention and control of diabetes will comprehensively be addressed.
This critical review of the literature answers the question, “what is the impact of dietary
intake in the prevention and management of diabetes?” The study population consists of 200
type 2 diabetic patients aged between 35 to 70 years and attend the two public hospitals in
Melbourne, Victoria namely The Alfred Health and Austin health hospitals. The intervention

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would consist of dietary assessment (using a validated food frequency questionnaire) broadly
categorized into seven groups namely bread, fruits, vegetables, flesh including fish, animal
products, beverages, and snacks. The variable for the control group would be assessed using
the standard medical procedures for diabetes. The incidences of diabetes in both the control
and intervention groups will be compared after ten months of study.
The researcher used keywords in searching for current relevant articles for the critical review.
These include type 2 diabetes, management, prevention, diet, and nutrition alongside other
specific phrases on the nutritional pattern. Search engines such as Google Scholar, Elsevier,
NCBI, Springer, and PubMed were searched for primary research articles and secondary
sources such as meta-analysis. Further filtration was done on the articles published for the
last ten years and published in the English language. The reference lists of the selected
articles were searched as well, and some of them were included in the study as much as it was
deemed appropriate by the researcher. Five main articles derived from the above search
procedure, and included in this review include: the efficacy of dietary education on the
knowledge of diabetic patient using the HBM, prevention and control of type 2 diabetes:
nutritional aspects and approaches, the association between nutrient intake and the
advancement of type 2 diabetes, risk of type 2 diabetes in relation to the consumption of
vegetable and animal protein, and the relationship between the use of milk and milk products
and the prevalence of diabetes in Australia.
The empirical study by Sharifirad, Entezari, Kamran, and Azadbakht (2009) focused on the
usefulness of the Health Belief Model (HBM) on dietary education in patients diagnosed with
type 2 diabetic. The study focused on eighty-eight diabetic patients diagnosed with type 2
diabetes and were attendees of Iranian Diabetes Association sessions during the period of
study. The intervention comprised of two educational seminars teach lasting for one hour 20

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minutes. The population was equally divided into two groups namely the intervention group
(that received the two educational sessions) and the control group which did not receive any
dietary education. A validated and reliable questionnaire was used to gather data on
nutritional knowledge, demographic information, elements of the HBM, and dietary practice.
The outcomes of the two groups were compared using the values of the variables under study.
The variables of comparison consisted of the elements of the HBM namely strictness,
vulnerability, susceptible, advantages and obstacles.
The authors found out that there was a significant increase in the values of the study variables
in the experimental group as well as substantial variations when compared to the placebo
group after the intervention. However, there was no significant variation between the study
groups concerning the elements of the HBM. There was a substantial increase in the
supposed vulnerability in the experimental group against the control group with mean
variations of 29 and -2.6 respectively. Similarly, supposed strictness had a significant mean
difference of 27.5 against 17.2 respectively, supposed susceptible had 28.5 against 0.6,
supposed advantages had mean variations of 21.1 against -3.1 respectively. There was a
substantial reduction in the perceived obstacles after the intervention in the experimental
group compared to the placebo group. Regarding the dietary knowledge and practice in type
2 diabetes after and before the intervention, the results indicated a higher significant
difference after the intervention in the case group. The authors concluded that dietary
education increased patient’s knowledge and minimized their fasting blood glucose, thus
confirming the effectiveness of the HBM in nutritional education.
Similar findings have also been arrived at by Shah, Kamdar, and Shah (2009) and Bains and
Egede (2011) who reported a significant increase in nutritional knowledge after an
educational intervention and a corresponding decline in type 2 diabetes risk. Chlebowy,