Introduction: Diet and hypoglycaemic agents

Dietary advice for the diabetic individual has shown a remarkable change over the last decade. In the past the dietary rules always began with ‘thou shalt not eat’ followed by a long list of foodstuffs, which were largely ignored by the patients except for the highly neurasthenic ones. Recently however, prestigious diabetologists recommend a dietary regime, which differs only marginally -if at all- from the nutritional program advocated for the general population, viz. the so called ‘prudent diet’ (high in carbohydrate, low in cholesterol and saturated fats). The American Diabetes Association and other venerated institutions have even begun to lift the ban on sucrose and alcohol, and one may ask whether there are any dietary rules left which apply specifically for the diabetic individual. However, despite, the emancipation of the ‘diabetes diet’, there still are.