Diabetes Nutrition and Complications Trial

Trends in nutritional pattern between 1993 and 2000 and targets of diabetes treatment in a sample of Spanish people with diabetes

Nutrition therapy plays an important role in the treatment of diabetes and must be based on regular alimentary diet habits, lifestyle, and personal preferences in order to attain the goals of diabetes management (1–5). If goals are not met, changes must be made in overall diabetes care, including the nutrition plan. In 1993, the usual diet of diabetic patients in Spain was a high-fat diet (>40%), basically rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (>50% of total fat intake) and poor in carbohydrates (<40%) (6). Despite this, between 60 and 85% of the diabetic patients reached a near-optimal metabolic control according to old targets (6,7), and a low cardiovascular morbidity/mortality (8,9) and a low prevalence of microvascular complications (10–12) have been reported in the Spanish population. Since 1993, treatment goals have been modified according to present evidences and lower targets of metabolic control may be achieved.

The Diabetes Nutritional Complications Trial is a prospective, observational, population-based, multicenter study. In this investigation, we report the changes in the nutrition pattern (based on 7-day food diaries) that occurred between 1993 and 2000 and their connection to diabetes treatment goals in a sample of diabetic patients from Spain.