HHS HealthBeat (October 16, 2009)

On the menu for diabetes

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

A study indicates many people with diabetes eat too much of what they should not, and not enough of what they should.

Mara Vitolins of Wake Forest University School of Medicine saw this in survey data on more than 2,700 people with type 2 diabetes.  For instance, 93 percent got too many calories from fat, 92 percent got too much salt, and only 7 percent got enough grains.

Vitolins says people who had diabetes longer didn’t get better at healthful eating. So she says:

[Mara Vitolins speaks] "Continued education throughout their lives may be necessary for them to understand it. A one-time shot probably isn’t going to do it."

The study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011