This study was carried out to investigate the effects of nutrition education on blood glucose in type 2 diabetic patients with low income. There were 50 (27 male and 23 female) study subjects with type 2 diabetes under national medical support, and the monthly income in most of them was less than 500,000 won. Anthropometric measurement, biochemical blood indices, food intake, dietary habits, and nutrition knowledge of the subjects were investigated before nutrition education. Nutrition education was conducted 6 times within 12 weeks. After nutrition education, the glycosylated hemoglobin was significantly decreased (male: 8.4?.6% to 8.0?.7%, female: 8.3?.6% to 8.0?.3%) and the total cholesterol was also significantly decreased in both groups. The group of female resulted in a significant decrease in fasting blood glucose (169.7?8.2 mg/dL to 152.8?2.0 mg/dL) and triglyceride (177.8?6.3 mg/dL to 162.3?6.1 mg/dL), but the group of male did not show a significant decrease in fasting blood glucose and triglyceride. Nutritional knowledge and dietary habit scores of the subjects were significantly improved after nutrition education. The results demonstrate that nutrition education for type 2 diabetic patients with low income are effective in improving their blood glucose.

Keywords: low income patients, diabetes mellitus, nutrition education, blood glucose