American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 2, 343-347, Copyright © 1954 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

The Food Consumption of Juvenile Diabetics

Evaluation of Diets Used at Home and at Summer Camp

¹ 111 East 80th Street, New York 21, N. Y.

An analysis and estimation of diets consumed at home prior to coming to a summer camp for diabetic children was attempted on 62 girls and 58 boys out of a total camp population of 81 girls and 74 boys.

Most of the children were found to be consuming carbohydrate (and calories) greatly in excess of their diet prescriptions. In many instances, however, the prescribed home diets were considered to be actually insufficient in total calories to meet the energy needs of active and rapidly growing children. Most of the children and their parents had not received adequate diet instructions from either their physicians or from dietitians in hospitals and clinics. They had little knowledge of the relative carbohydrate values of foods or of exchange values.

An analysis is presented of all children who were on "free diets" prior to coming to camp, to study the actual deviation of these from the so-called average food requirements as established by accepted standards. About half of a group of 37 children on a "free diet" consumed a diet considered "normal" and adequate for their needs. The others ingested increasing amounts of food in excess.

Data are presented showing the prescribed home diet, the actual home diet, as obtained by questioning, the final camp diets, and the corresponding insulin dosages in a representative group of campers.