# Effectiveness of a Nutrition Education Program for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
## 3 Results
### Socio-Economic Data, Nutritional Knowledge and Perception of T2 DM Treatment  
Although, risk factors for people with T2 DM [3] are well known. it is therefore necessary to select socio-economic data and clinical characteristics of the T2 DM patients.  
More than half of the patients were treating diabetes with antidiabetic medication only (56.8%), with 3.4% injecting insulin and only 9.1% taking diabetic medications and eating a balanced diet (Table 1).  
The amount patients spent on food each month was also checked for correlation with dietary guidelines. Most (52% of the sample) spent EUR 200-300, 32% spent EUR 300-400, 11% spent less than EUR 200 and just under 5% spent more than EUR 400.  
As part of the interview, patients were questioned about their educational level. The results showed that almost half of the patients had a high school degree (42.5%), while only 4.6% had an elementary school degree. The rest of the patients had a university degree (Table 1).  
No comorbidities were recorded in 25 patients; 57.5% had a family history of diabetes. The frequency of comorbidities for the remaining 63 patients is recorded in Figure 1.  
When asked about the frequency of blood glucose monitoring by the patients, 50% answered 1 time/day. After analyzing the patients' responses to the questionnaire, it was found that 90% of patients reported the frequency of their visits to the doctor for diabetes was every 3 months and 10% every year. A total of 89.8% of patients responded that they were not informed about the severity of the disease, while 10.2% of patients were informed. When asked if dietary instructions were given after the onset of the disease, the physician responded that it was the patient's responsibility. Almost half of the patients exercised every day. Finally, patients were asked if they smoked, and 25% of patients answered yes (Table 2).  
Figure 2 shows the percentage of participants who adhered to the dietary guidelines prior to the intervention. Before the intervention, half the patients had not received clear dietary guidelines related to treating their diabetes. The others had been given some kind of dietary plan by the research dietician. For the majority of patients (56%), reducing carbohydrate intake was the most important dietary goal; 20% of patients tried to increase their intake of fruit and vegetables; 42% chose to include low-fat foods in their diet; 27% of patients did not follow any  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline \hline  & & \% \\ \hline Sex & Men & 45.5 \\  & Women & 54.5 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Education} & Primary Education & 4.6 \\  & Secondary Education & 42.5 \\  & Higher Education & 52.9 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Financial budget per month for food} & EUR \textless{} 201 & 11.4 \\  & EUR 201–300 & 52.3 \\  & EUR 301–400 & 31.8 \\  & EUR \textgreater{} 400 & 4.5 \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Treatment of T2 DM} & Exercise and insulin & 1.1 \\  & Exercise, and medication & 1.1 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Exercise and medication & 6.8 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Diet and medication & 9.1 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Insulin & 3.4 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Medication & 56.8 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Medication and insulin & 20.5 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Socio-economic data and clinical characteristics of the T2 DM patients (N = 88).  
Figure 1: Comorbidity of the participants (%).  
dietary guidelines. In terms of sodium consumption, only 5% restricted the consumption of processed foods, and 35% refrained from eating particularly salty foods.  
When asked about their knowledge of the proper diet for someone with diabetes, the largest percentage (57.5%) rated this as moderate, while 37.9% felt they were adequately informed. A small percentage of 3.4% felt that they had very good knowledge and 1.1% felt that they had no knowledge in this area.