Compliance of insulin-dependent diabetics with a low-fat diet.

Compliance with medical therapy is widely researched yet unpredictable. When counseled by a dietitian to begin a low-fat (25%) diabetic diet, subjects significantly decreased fat intake but did not achieve the prescribed 25% fat level. The significantly lower fat intake after instruction identified the registered dietitian as an effective behavioral change agent. Six compliance predictors obtained at an initial interview accounted for 77% of the variance in compliance.