Diabetes Prevention Chatbots to Help Dietary Self-management for the Chinese Population

Diabetes has become an increasingly severe problem in China in recent years. Although some methods have been conducted to promote diabetes prevention before, they have certain limitations. To better activate diabetes management in China, this research proposes an AI-driven web application that offers personalized suggestions for diabetes prevention in the Chinese population. Its core is fine-tuning a large language model based on a tailored training dataset containing conversation prompts about diabetes lifestyle prevention suggestions. Its novelty includes the training dataset building on a self-defined diabetes prevention guideline, focusing on the Chinese lifestyle and, particularly, dietary habits. Therefore, it helps bridge gaps in existing prevention tools, such as the lack of personalization and cultural relevance. The system enables users to interact with AI in real time to receive advice and download chatting histories as well. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using AI to enhance early prevention strategies, contributing to advancing AI applications in healthcare. Its future implications may include expanding the app's features for broader lifestyle management, as well as integrating with a community feedback mechanism and relevant healthcare systems to improve Chinese diabetes prevention.Clinical relevance-This project might be of interest to practicing clinicians, since it had the potential to improve the quality and accessibility of current Chinese diabetes prevention. In addition, if people's diabetes prevention self-management is improved, the burden of clinicians may be reduced to some extent.