Abstract

As nutrient-poor food and fast-paced lifestyles continue to dominate modern life, the increasing number of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus has prompted several studies to seek innovative interventional methods. 37.3 million people in the United States have diabetes (11.3% of US population) and an additional 96 million people aged 18 years and older have prediabetes (38.0% of US population). Several meta-analyses of studies that utilized educational materials to improve metabolic control have shown that lifestyle interventions can demonstrate  a meaningful change in glycemic control. This study plans to examine the effectiveness of an educational program administered via email with the purpose of improving patient management of type 2 diabetes. Educational material will contain information on nutrition and exercise related to type 2 diabetes. We hypothesize that providing a 6-week educational program with evidence-based lifestyle interventions to patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes will result in increased patient diabetes awareness and education. In the future, the methods used in this pilot project could be implemented in a larger and longer study that correlates patient knowledge with changes in hemoblobinA1c.