Healthy Eating and Active Living for Diabetes: Glycemic Index (HEALD-GI)

This study proposes to examine the effectiveness of enhanced GI-targeted nutrition education on dietary behaviour and intakes among adults with type 2 diabetes.

Adults with type 2 diabetes will take part in this study and will be randomly assigned to either the HEALD-GI program (intervention) or in usual care (control). To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, 66 eligible participants drawn from the Alberta's Caring for Diabetes Cohort will be randomized into two equal groups using a pragmatic randomized controlled trial design. The control will receive only standard printed copies of Canada Food Guide and Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) GI resources. The intervention group will receive additional GI concept information including GI values of foods, low GI recipes, menus, and application through websites with chat rooms, online videos, and print materials. These will be reinforced through email, text messaging/phone calls, and postal mail. GI knowledge and skill, self-efficacy, dietary intakes (using 3-day food record), anthropometry (body mass), and clinical measures (glycated hemoglobin A1c, systolic blood pressure), will be assessed at baseline and three months post-intervention.

The primary outcome will be change in GI related dietary behaviour and intake measured using 3-day food records (baseline and 3 months). Secondary outcomes include: 1) body mass, 2) glycemic control (hemoglobin A1c), 3) systolic blood pressure.

Significance:

Sufficient evidence is needed regarding the best approach for increasing uptake of current Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) evidence-based recommendation to include low GI foods in daily meal planning as an effective dietary self-care practice for glycemic control among people with type 2 diabetes. Findings from this study will help determine if, and how, the current approach to disseminating the CDA dietary recommendations pertaining to GI concept could be improved for better uptake using the most efficient and cost effective patient-centered approaches to nutrition self-management. Besides, evidence generated will contribute to addressing some of the controversies regarding the clinical usefulness of the GI concept.