Knowledge and Practice of Nutritionists in Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Honey: A Case of Hospitals in Nairobi County

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by chronic hyperglycaemia, due to defects in insulin secretion, action activity or both. The prevalence of DM in Kenya is at 3.3% and is reported to be rising. Administration of drugs, healthy eating and exercises are the recommended management of the disease. Combining anti-diabetic drugs with natural remedies including honey has been reported to be more effective than use of drugs alone. However many Kenyans are sceptical about the use of honey in the management of DM on account of its high sugar. The prescription of honey for management of DM by the medical personnel is therefore viewed with cynicism. This study was therefore designed to assess the knowledge and practice of use of honey in diabetes management by the nutritionists working in hospitals. The study was cross-sectional, involving 57 practicing nutritionists drawn from different departments of public and private hospitals within Nairobi County, and the heads of the nutrition departments as key informants. Data was collected by administering a structured questionnaire to the consenting respondents. The study was granted approved by Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)/ University of Nairobi (UoN) Ethics and Research Committee. Results showed that up to 50.9% of the respondents do not have knowledge on the use of honey in the management of DM, while 42.1% indicated having the knowledge. The gains indicated by the respondents who had knowledge included lowering glycaemic index (7%), control of blood glucose (19.3%), medicinal value (7%), and provision of energy (3.5%), alternative sweetener (1.8%) and antioxidant (1.8%). Only 19.3% of the respondents were aware of studies on use of honey in DM management. Most of the nutritionists recommend unprocessed honey (94.1%)  The common forms of usage of the honey were indicated as spreads on bread (41.2%), sweetener of foods such as tea and porridge (17.6%), solution in hot water (11.8%) and direct eating (5.9%). The quantity of honey recommended one teaspoon (41.2%), two teaspoons (29.4%), three teaspoons (23.5%) and four teaspoon (5.9%). Nutritionist who did not recommend honey based their arguments on such reasoning as honey raising blood glucose (60%), lack of knowledge on efficacy (20%), ignorance (17.5%) and patient’s non-acceptance (2.5%). The study concludes that knowledge among nutritionists on the use of honey in management of type-2 DM is very low and therefore prescription/recommendation also very limited. Keywords : Nutritionist, Knowledge and Practice, use of honey, Type-2 Diabetes management DOI : 10.7176/FSQM/91-06 Publication date :October 31 st 2019