CHSU Discovery

Background: With the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and the convenience of unhealthy eating choices, Type II Diabetes is a growing disease that has affected millions of Americans, both young and old. Nutrition is a major component in improving diabetic outcomes. We explored the use of nutritional education as a means to improve healthier eating choices. Significant factors that correlated with higher rates of Diabetes among the Latino and Punjabi populations included lower relative health insurance rates, poverty, low socioeconomic status, low income, and most importantly - lack of access to education. In addition, by focusing on urban-underserved and rural areas as our primary setting, we noticed that food deserts, mental health factors (loneliness and depression), lack of goal-setting, and busy work schedules led to high rates of medication non-adherence for Latino and Punjabi patients with Type II Diabetes.

In order to improve diabetic outcomes through improved nutrition, we explored different means of education and promotion of healthy nutritional education, tying in behavioral public health theories and creating practical ways of assessing their impact subjectively and objectively. There seems to be a lack of research in understanding the types of techniques that could effectively empower individuals with Type II Diabetes to begin and continue with dietary and exercise changes. Additionally, there is a gap in how a concise, time-sensitive approach to applying these changes can lead to positive results regarding Diabetes. With this study, we believe that at least 50% of the patients receiving nutritional education at UHCMilburn will be more confident controlling their Diabetes after demonstrating a 50% increase in their health literacy and experience satisfaction by the end of March 2023.