The Impact of a Community-Based Food Education Program on Nutrition-Related Knowledge in Middle-Aged and Older Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Results of a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Carlos Vasconcelos, António Almeida, Maria Cabral, Elisabete Ramos and Romeu Mendes
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Carlos Vasconcelos: Department of Sports Sciences, Exercise and Health, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
António Almeida: Department of Sports Sciences, Exercise and Health, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Maria Cabral: EPIUnit—Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, 4050-091 Porto, Portugal
Elisabete Ramos: EPIUnit—Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, 4050-091 Porto, Portugal
Romeu Mendes: Department of Sports Sciences, Exercise and Health, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-16

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a community-based food education program on nutrition-related knowledge in middle-aged and older patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Participants ( n = 36; 65.9 ± 6.0 years old) were recruited in primary health care to a 9-month community-based lifestyle intervention program for patients with T2D and randomly assigned to an exercise program (control group; n = 16) or an exercise program plus a food education program (experimental group; n = 20). Nutrition-related knowledge was assessed through a modified version of the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire. The increase in total nutrition-related knowledge score and sources of nutrients area score was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. No significant changes in nutrition-related knowledge were found between groups in dietary recommendations and diet-disease relationship areas, although improvements were observed. This community-based food education program, with the use of easy to implement strategies (short-duration lectures and dual-task problem solving activities during exercise), had a positive and encouraging impact on nutrition-related knowledge in middle-aged and older patients with T2D.

Keywords: community-based intervention; food education program; nutrition-related knowledge; type 2 diabetes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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