Functional foods in the management of diabetes mellitus

Objective: To analyze the knowledge and the consumption of functional foods that facilitate the diabetes mellitus control in patients of a public hospital in Curitiba - PR. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional and quantitative study, conducted with diabetic patients hospitalized (Hospital de Clinicas/UFPR), in the period between December 2011 and March 2012. A questionnaire was used for data collection in order to obtain information about the knowledge of functional foods, as well as the consumption of five important functional foods for the diabetes control: garlic, yacon potato, onion, passion fruit peel flour and flaxseed. The collected data were tabulated on Libre Office ® 3.5 and afterwards the analysis were performed using descriptive statistics. Results: It was observed that only 12 patients (35.29%) of the sample had previously received information on functional foods and only 11 (32.35%) respondents know the importance of these foods to control diabetes. Of the five studied functional foods, garlic and potatoes yacon presented the highest consumption among diabetic patients. Conclusion: The knowledge about functional foods, as well as its consumption by diabetic patients is small. There is a need for a greater intervention by Nutrition professionals on the orientation of these foods consumption in the usual diet of diabetic patients, aiming to promote a better control of diabetes mellitus.