Abstract
Diabetics' nutritional practices reflect the culture and human behavior of social groups; they also show how the diabetic faces health-sickness. This study's aim was to compare the nutritional practices in two geographic medical zones and to relate the value of metabolic control to age, sex, educational level, and length of the disease. The sample consisted of 404 cases chosen by systematic random sampling of 10 units of family medicine in the state of Jalisco, Mexico (five of them in metropolitan Guadalajara and five outside). Using 13 structured questions, validated, codified, and quantified according to Likert scale, nutritional practices were estimated with a range from 0–70 points. The results show that 20.54% of the diabetics have adequate nutritional practices (> 31 points). Of this figure, 80.72% are in the metropolitan zone and 19.27%, outside the metropolitan zone, showing a statistically significant difference (p = 0.04). When relating the value of the practices with the educational level, there is a significant statistical difference shown between both medical zones (p = 0.001). The simple regression between the value of the practices and metabolic control demonstrated that 8.2% and 1.5% of type-2 diabetics in the metropolitan zone and outside respectively account for metabolic control through high level nutritional practices.
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