[Questioning of diabetic patients on their knowledge of nutrition and dietetics as well as on their smoking habits].

100 diabetics were asked questions referring to the knowledge of nutrition to smoking habits. Most of the diabetics controlled their body weight regularly and were convinced that overweight may be dangerous to health. Despite this knowledge, more than half of the patients were overweight and did not know their individual ideal weight. Between the quality of dietary consultation and dietary behaviour of the patients a similar discrepancy existed: More than half of the questioned persons - especially males - had to be regarded as dietary failures. Patients with relatively low educational level came off worse. Fortunately, most of the patients were non-smokers. However, the dietary consultation practised at the moment seemed to have had no influence on the number of smokers. Consequently, for the training of the patients the following results: More than ever, the patients must be incited to normalize their body weight and they must be positively motivated in this regard as well as with regard to nicotine abuse. Behaviour therapy would certainly be desirable. Moreover, the patients should have a dietary consultation at least every second year. A dietary filled in for the patient personally must serve as the basis for the observance of the diet. Persons in whom diabetes mellitus was diagnosticated should receive consultation more quickly than up to now. Moreover, it would be useful to free the diet from the odium of an annoying and unimportant supplementation to medicamentous diabetes therapy. The study showed that continuous self-control of the own educational work is indispensable to guarantee a high standard of therapeutic efforts.