Reliability and cost of diabetic diets.

In 1968 the actual food intake of 63 diabetic patients was recorded for a period of one week. The food consumption of 19 was found to be within 10% of that which had been prescribed for them at the diabetic clinic, but the food actually eaten by many of the other patients differed appreciably from the prescribed diet. Dietary control was more reliable in the younger patients and in those who required insulin. In many patients the food intake varied widely from day to day.There was no obvious relation between the reliability of dietary control during this survey and the standard of diabetic control as recorded in the diabetic clinic. The findings of this survey were compared, where possible, with the results of a previous and similar survey conducted in 1948. In both surveys it was confirmed that the cost of the diet per week for diabetics was above that for the general population.