Diabetes dietary practice depends on guidance from a health care provider, meal preparation in a family context and exercising with a partner or in a group. The current study showed that nearly half proportion of type 2 DM patients had poor dietary practice. Very low monthly income, drug regimen like insulin only and insulin with oral medication, not getting DM education in hospital, less frequency of DM education in one year, despondency, lack of support of family and friends, and difficulty on availability of fruits and vegetables were the variables identified for having significant associations with poor dietary practice.
The overall occurrence of poor dietary practice among type 2 diabetic patients at Adare General Hospital was found to be 44.2%. Similar study done on dietary practice and associated factors among type 2 DM patients in Yekatit 12 Medical College Hospital, Addis Ababa has indicated that 51.4% of the patients had poor dietary practice(13). Another study done in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital showed that 79% of the study participants did not adhere to recommended dietary management practices which is higher than the finding of the present study(14). This variation could be due to difference in sample size, difference in educational background, and the role of current strong association of diabetic patients in the study area. Another study done in Uganda on the factors affecting adherence to nutrition therapy found that the practice of recommended nutrition therapy for 62.9% of the diabetic patients was low, which is higher than the finding of present study(15). The disparity could be explained by the variation in the settings of the study, difference in the socioeconomic and socio-demographic characteristics, different in study instrument used, number of study participants, study design used as well as difference in the types of foods available in the two nations. Studies done on the assessment of dietary practice among diabetic patients in the United Arab Emirates and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia also reported inadequate dietary practice(16) (17).
This study identified that monthly income was one of the factor significantly associated with dietary practice. In this finding, 64.6% of respondents had very low monthly income and were 4.87 times more likely to have poor dietary practice than those who had above average monthly income. This is similar with studies done among adult diabetic patients in Harar and Nekemte Hospitals regarding self-care practices(18) (1).This, may show that patients relatively in high income category can get healthy foods that are recommended for diabetic patients. This finding is consistent with other study conducted in Malaysia on self-care practices of Malaysian adults with diabetes(19). In clear terms, those who have low monthly income cannot afford to buy different types of foods to fulfill their daily requirements for maintaining good dietary practice. Therefore, they will be forced to consume only some specific foods without choice and get exposed to poor self-dietary management.
Drug regimen like insulin only and insulin with oral medication were other factors affecting the dietary practice. Possible explanation is that the complexity of treatment and duration of disease may lead patients to frustration not to keep recommended dietary practice since most of the time in type 2 DM patient’s insulin and insulin with oral medication are treatment option after long time use of oral medication.
Lack of education about diabetes at hospitals and less frequent DM education per year were associated with the poor dietary practice of the patients. This is consistent with study done on the assessment of dietary practice among diabetic patients in Yekatit 12 Medical College Hospital, Addis Ababa(13) and study done in South Africa which has identified the need for nutrition education related to diabetes care for optimal diabetes management(20). This may be due to the fact that those who get nutrition education and who get more frequent nutrition education follow the advices from clinicians and have better knowledge and understanding about the foods suitable for condition of their disease, food guides and prescriptions than those who don’t get nutrition education.
Despondency was another factor identified to associate with poor dietary practice. Respondents who had despondency were 3.71 times more likely to follow poor dietary practice than those who did not have despondency. This result is in agreement with reports that showed coexisting despondency in people with diabetes is associated with decreased adherence to dietary management DM (21) (11). Accordingly, those who were despondency for most of the times were two to three times highly at risk of forgetting and not giving value to food planning and therefore, consume whatever is edible.
Lack of support from family and friends was another factor affecting the dietary practice of diabetic patients. Respondents who had lack of family and friends support were nearly six times more likely to follow poor dietary practice than those who had support. This result is in agreement with the study done in USA on predictors of self-care behaviors in adults with type 2 diabetes(8) (22). This may be due to lack of awareness and insufficient knowledge about dietary regimen of diabetes among families and friends.
On the other hand, the findings from this study contradict the study conducted in Yekatit 12 Medical College Hospital, Addis Ababa(13). These researchers, who examined the dietary practice and associated factors among type 2 diabetes, found that social support was not associated with poor dietary practice of diabetes patients. The differences in results between this study and the present study could be due to variation in the settings of the study and difference in socio-demographic characteristics.
Non availability of fruits and vegetables was another factor affecting the dietary practice of diabetic patients. This result is in line with a report on creating healthy food and eating environments in the United States of America(22). This may be due to the seasonality of fruits and vegetables which make the patients suffer from difficulty to take the recommended type and amount of fruits and vegetables, leading to poor dietary practice.
Practical implications of the finding
Compliance to glycemic control and diabetes dietary practice is a major problem in people with diabetes, especially among individuals with or at risk of developing diabetes-related complications. Therefore, addressing the factors examined in this study may possibly enhance dietary practice of Type 2 DM patients. Health intervention programmers, dieticians, nutritionists, educators, health psychologists, physicians, nurses, and other clinicians will find it useful in the creation and utilization of holistic intervention in order to improve diabetes dietary practices of Adare General Hospital population with T2DM.