Type 2 diabetes in adults: management

  • NICE guideline
  • NG28
  • Published: 
  • Last updated: 
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Dietary advice and interventions

1.3 Dietary advice

1.3.1

Provide individualised and ongoing nutritional advice from a healthcare professional with specific expertise and competencies in nutrition. [2009]

1.3.2

Provide dietary advice in a form sensitive to the person's needs, culture and beliefs, being sensitive to their willingness to change and the effects on their quality of life. [2009]

1.3.3

Encourage adults with type 2 diabetes to follow the same healthy eating advice as the general population, which includes:

  • eating high-fibre, low-glycaemic-index sources of carbohydrate, such as fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and pulses

  • choosing low-fat dairy products

  • eating oily fish

  • controlling their intake of saturated and trans fatty acids. [2009]

1.3.5

Integrate dietary advice with a personalised diabetes management plan, including other aspects of healthy living such as increasing physical activity and losing weight (see the NHS Better Health website). [2009, amended 2026]

1.3.6

Individualise recommendations for carbohydrate and alcohol intake, and meal patterns. Make reducing the risk of hypoglycaemia a particular aim for people using insulin or an insulin secretagogue. [2009]

1.3.7

Advise adults with type 2 diabetes that they can substitute a limited amount of sucrose-containing foods for other carbohydrates in the meal plan but should take care to avoid excess energy intake. [2009]

1.3.8

Discourage adults with type 2 diabetes from using foods marketed specifically for people with diabetes. [2009]

1.3.9

When adults with type 2 diabetes are admitted as inpatients to hospital or any other care setting, implement a meal planning system that provides consistency in the carbohydrate content of meals and snacks. [2009]

1.4 Bariatric surgery