Research Description
Eating foods typical of the Mediterranean diet can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. These changes may happen because of positive emotional factors. These pathways have not been proven in trials. Mediterranean patterns may not be relevant to non-Mediterranean populations. One in five adults in Puerto Rico (PR) has prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Thus, the team conducted a short pilot trial to test a tailored Mediterranean-like diet in 44 adults. Preliminary results are promising. It is not known if the program can produce sustained benefits long term. This proposal will enhance the pilot to a 12 months clinical trial named PROMED. One hundred-and-thirty adults at high risk for diabetes will be assigned at random to a group. For the first 6 months, the intervention group will receive monthly supplies of legumes, vegetable oils, and local fruit and vegetables. The control group will receive supermarket vouchers. For all 12 months, the intervention group will receive culturally tailored nutritional counseling. The control group will receive standard nutritional counseling. Daily text messages will reinforce the nutritional counseling. The study will test if people in the intervention can improve risk factors of diabetes more than the control group. It will test possible pathways through emotional health. Researchers will interview providers and participants to explore barriers and enablers to implement PROMED long-term. PROMED will be a practical, appropriate, feasible, and sustainable diet for diabetes-prevention in PR. It will inform food assistance programs and dietary guidelines.Research Profile
What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?This project will focus on nutritional and psychosocial factors to prevent type 2 diabetes.
If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?You will benefit by learning how to identify and follow healthy foods and supportive strategies that fit your culture, your budget, and your surroundings. These strategies can help maintain body measurements in normal values (like blood pressure, lipids, or blood glucose). The results of this project will help enhance food assistance programs and dietary or health guidelines.
Why important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play?As one of the top diseases, we are all shaped by diabetes. I have relatives and friends living with all types of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the predominant type. A very close relative with type 2 diabetes passed away prematurely. My home country of Puerto Rico has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. We can prevent many of these cases with targeted and multi-level strategies. With the available evidence and technologies, it is unacceptable to have inequities in diabetes prevention and care. This award will help us translate such evidence and leverage technologies and resources to help decrease cardiometabolic risk of type 2 diabetes in Puerto Rico and similar high-risk groups. We will reach this goal by promoting practical, culturally-appropriate, and accesible foods and psychosocial strategies.
In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?Future diabetes research will leverage advanced technologies to identify models for personalized care. It will also extend to multi-level components to prevent and control diabetes, beyond medication (like lifestyle, social, and environmental). We will ensure to translate and disseminate the evidence to benefit all individuals equitably, with vulnerable groups being prioritized.