| dc.description.abstract | Background: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Morbidity and mortality in DM are attributed to poor glycaemic control. Nutrition therapy is a cornerstone in the management of DM and consumption of foods with low glycaemic response improves outcomes. Food choice is influenced by various factors, and by understanding the different motives for daily food choice health workers are better positioned to offer dietary advice. Despite this, there is lack of data on the glycaemic response to locally available staple foods and the motives underlying food choice among DM patients in Uganda, making nutritional advice to patients challenging. Objectives: (1) To determine the glycaemic response to locally available carbohydrate source foods among patients with DM and (2) To describe the factors that influence food choice among patients with DM in Uganda. Methods: For objective one, ten patients with DM were recruited from the DM clinic at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital (KNRH). Protocols from the Food and Agriculture Organization/ World health Organization (FAO/WHO) were used to determine glycaemic response to five commonly consumed carbohydrate source foods. Incremental area under the curve (IUAC) was calculated by using the trapezoid rule and glycaemic response expressed as a percentage of the response for the reference food against the baseline (glucose). For objective two, a cross-sectional study design was used. A pretested food choice questionnaire was administered to 419 patients with DM attending care at KNRH. Descriptive analyses were performed for the sociodemographic information and the other variables on the food choice questionnaire. ANOVA followed by Bonferroni test was performed to compare means of the food choice questionnaires factors by the various demographic factors.
Results: IAUC were statistically significantly different across the food types (Analysis of variance, F-test P values =0.0007), with matooke having the lowest (309.95) and Irish potatoes having the highest (384.46). Analysis of the food choice factors showed sensory appeal, (mean-SD) (4.34±0.85) and price (4.32 ± 0.99) to be the most important factors. These were followed by familiarity (3.83 ± 1.30), health (3.68 ± 0.81) and convenience (3.53± 1.25) of acquiring food. Ethical consideration (1.15 ± 0.33) was the least important factor. Associations were observed
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among the factors influencing food choice and some demographic characteristics with sex, revealing a significant association with convenience factor (female-4.0, male-2.9 P value = 0.0000).
Conclusions: Matooke and sweet potatoes had the least response, while Irish potatoes had the highest. Price and sensory appeal were the main determinants of food choice in patients with DM.
Recommendations: Matooke and sweet potatoes provided appropriate glycaemic response and could be preferred for patients with DM. When offering nutritional advice, health workers need to consider price, sensory appeal of the food. | en_US |
