Abstract
Dietary behaviour is a core element in diabetes self-management. There are no remarkable differences between nutritional guidelines for people with type 2 diabetes and healthy eating recommendations for the general public. This study aimed to evaluate dietary differences between subjects with and without diabetes and to describe any emerging dietary patterns characterizing diabetic subjects. In this cross-sectional study conducted on older adults from Southern Italy, eating habits in the “Diabetic” and “Not Diabetic” groups were assessed with FFQ, and dietary patterns were derived using an unsupervised learning algorithm: principal component analysis. Diabetic subjects (n = 187) were more likely to be male, slightly older, and with a slightly lower level of education than subjects without diabetes. The diet of diabetic subjects reflected a high-frequency intake of dairy products, eggs, vegetables and greens, fresh fruit and nuts, and olive oil. On the other hand, the consumption of sweets and sugary foods was reduced compared to non-diabetics (23.74 ± 35.81 vs. 16.52 ± 22.87; 11.08 ± 21.85 vs. 7.22 ± 15.96). The subjects without diabetes had a higher consumption of red meat, processed meat, ready-to-eat dishes, alcoholic drinks, and lower vegetable consumption. The present study demonstrated that, in areas around the Mediterranean Sea, older subjects with diabetes had a healthier diet than their non-diabetic counterparts.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by an increase in blood glucose concentrations
This study aimed to evaluate dietary differences between subjects with and without diabetes among non-institutionalized older adults from Southern Italy using an unsupervised machine learning approach in the identification of dietary patterns based on principal component analysis
The sample analyzed in the present study included 1399 subjects drawn from the “Salus in Apulia Study” population, with an average age of 73.43 ± 6.30 years old
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by an increase in blood glucose concentrations (hyperglycemia). There are two major subtypes of DM: type 1 and type 2. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is the most common type of DM (around 90% of people with diabetes have T2DM) [1]. It is mainly linked to insulin resistance (IR) and relatively poor insulin secretion. Diabetes has become a major public health concern worldwide due to its growing epidemic prevalence. According to the data of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), diabetes affected 463 million people between the ages of 20 and 79 worldwide in 2019, which will grow to an estimated 700 million by 2045 [2]. Disease prevalence has doubled in Italy in the last 30 years ( 5.7–6.2%, or one in every six people over 65 years old) [3]
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