IMPORTANCE OF DIETARY COUNSELING TO PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE 2 FROM AN OUTPATIENT CLINIC IN SÃO PAULO

Background and objectives: A healthful eating pattern and regular physical activity are extremely important components of type 2 diabetes mellitus management. For many individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus, the most difficult part of the dietetic plan is to decide what to eat. Dietary therapy has been recognized as an essencial strategy for helping patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, improving self-management, developing nutritional education and providing an eating plan. In this context the purpose of this work is to correlate the eating habits of patients who received professional guidance with those who did not receive any guidance. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study with primary data collection, sampling done by convenience, approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of Centro Universitario Sao Camilo, Brazil. A structured questionnaire to characterize food intake was developed for this research and applied to 82 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, both male and female, attending an outpatient clinic in Sao Paulo. Data analyses were performed using descriptive statistic, the Qui-square test with a level of significance of p