Knowledge and Attitude About Sweeteners Among Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Author(s): Mayasah A. Sadiq, Alaa A. Salih

Background: Globally in 2013 about 382 million people are diabetics, 90% of them are type 2, that meticulous diet control is crucial in a treatment as diabetes is the 8th leading cause of death worldwide.

Objective: To assess the knowledge and practice towards sweeteners in a sample of type 2 diabetic patients as few researches cover this subject in Iraq.

Patients and method: A cross-sectional study in which convenient sample of 440 diabetic were collected and interviewed from the Centers of Diabetes and a primary health center in Baghdad during the period from 14th of March to 3rd of July 2014. Knowledge has been studied, in addition to assessment of other variables, including gender, age, education and disease duration.

Results: The results showed that 52% of the sample use sweeteners in diet 79% used 5-10 tablet/ day.

Conclusion: Majority of our sample have good knowledge and their practice of using sweeteners is in the approved range of tablets number by the FDA.