Evaluation of the quality of menus implemented in diets for diabetes mellitus patients in selected healthcare facilities

Background
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases associated with abnormalities in insulin action and/or secretion. The continuous rise in the number of patients and the overall patient count, which reflects the global prevalence of this disease, unequivocally indicates that hospital facilities are frequently admitting patients with this condition. The healthcare personnel responsible for patient nutrition should ensure both the quantity and quality of their meals.

Objectives
The aim of this study was to conduct a qualitative evaluation of the menus implemented in specific hospital facilities following a diet with restricted easily digestible carbohydrates.

Material and methods
The study analyzed 182 one-day menus from 13 hospital facilities, consisting of 13 fourteen-day menus from the summer of 2021. A questionnaire was developed for qualitative evaluation

Results
The analysis showed that the menus were subject to numerous errors, particularly in the number of meals per day, the type of fat used, the frequency of dairy products, the frequency of vegetables, the type of carbohydrate supplements used in lunches, and the frequency of non-recommended products.

Conclusions
Most of the menus showed errors that could be corrected. The analyzed material clearly indicated that in hospital nutrition, patients are often provided with inappropriate products for their disease entity, and the number of meals per day is too low.