PDA-assisted low glycemic index dietary intervention for type II diabetes: a pilot study

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological and dietary intervention studies suggest that a low-glycemic index (GI) diet is beneficial for blood glucose control; however, long-term clinical utility of the low GI diet has not been fully investigated. Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a nutritionist-delivered low-GI dietary intervention, with the support of a personal digital assistant (PDA), for adult patients with poorly controlled type II diabetes. Method: The low-GI intervention consisted of six counseling sessions and the use of a PDA-based food database with GI scores for 6 months. Study outcomes included feasibility measures, glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c), GI and glycemic load (GL) score of self-reported dietary intake, body weight, depression and quality of life (QOL). Measures were obtained at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Results: Of 31 adult patients approached, 15 met study eligibility criteria and were enrolled in the study. Thirteen patients (87%) completed all study assessments. Findings included decreases in average HbA1c (À0.5% P ¼ 0.02), body weight, hip circumference, blood pressure, dietary GI and daily caloric intake. Diabetes impact scores also decreased. All but one participant completed all components of the intervention. There were mixed reports regarding the usefulness of the PDAs; however, participants offered helpful suggestions for further development. Conclusions: Results of this pilot study support the feasibility of implementing a nutritionist-delivered, PDA-assisted low-GI dietary intervention for patients with poorly controlled type II diabetes. Encouraging initial efficacy data require further testing in the context of a randomized clinical trial.

The effect of consumption of low-glycemic-index and low-glycemic-load desserts on anthropometric parameters and inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

“…Da Silva et al [29] found that hip circumference can be reduced after the consumption of 20 g of green banana flour/ day, which is rich in fibers, for 45 days in 25 overweight women. Ma et al [30] examined the efficacy of a nutritionist-delivered low-GI dietary intervention, with the support of a personal digital assistant (PDA), for 13 adult patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. Among many other parameters, hip circumference was decreased significantly after 6 months of intervention.…”

Methodology for adding glycemic index and glycemic load values to 24-hour dietary recall database

“…The concept of the glycemic index (GI) has provided the scientific community with a new way to examine the quality of carbohydrate (CHO), which has been useful in research on the etiology and prevention of diabetes, coronary heart disease, obesity, prostate cancer, and other chronic diseases [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Historically, CHOs have been classified into two major forms: complex and simple.…”

Mobile Health Applications to Assist Patients with Diabetes: Lessons Learned and Design Implications

“…Users wanted the food-specific information to include suggestions for alternative foods, comparison based on nutritional content, ways of preparing the food, and energy content in relation to recommended energy intake from protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Relevant literature 20,21 describes the use of food information on handheld devices and the difficulties in finding food items a user wants-even though, or because, the database contains several thousand food items. Especially for people with T2DM, it seems to be more important to get approximate ideas of how much impact a food item has on the BG level than to record very precise amounts of carbohydrate.…”