[Do Type-I diabetics eat a diet in accordance with recommendations?]

The nutritional habits regarding intake of calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein of 25 nonobese type-I diabetic subjects were compared with the recommendations given at onset of diabetes by a dietician and with the official recommendations of the American Diabetes Association. Food questionnaires indicated that the subjects currently ate 39% more calories than originally recommended by the dietician. The carbohydrate part of total energy was 4 +/- 7% and thereby lower than recommended by the dietician and officially by the professional society (55%). Fat consumption was 38 +/- 7% of total energy and therefore higher than recommended (30%). 17.2% of total energy was fat with saturated fatty acids (recommendation: maximum 8 to 10%). Protein consumption was 1.25 +/- 0.35 g/kg BW/d and thereby above the recommended amounts (0.8 g/kg BW/d). Thus, dietary counseling of type-I diabetic subjects at disease onset is frequently hypocaloric, probably because of lack of appetite. Patients show a tendency to add fat and protein calories thereafter, instead of increasing carbohydrate intake. Dietary habits of type I diabetic subjects should therefore be re-evaluated periodically by a dietician and adjusted to the individual requirements and to the official guidelines.