Nutrition Bytes

Diet regimens are widely prescribed by health care providers as a first line method of treatment and prevention for numerous medical conditions including obesity, type-2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, and some forms of cancer. Diet control can be extremely effective in the treatment and prevention of these diseases. However, adherence to diet regimens poses a major problem in their use. Based on the premise that dietary compliance involves learning, planning, and implementation of a diet plan, current data suggests that prepared meal programs increase patient compliance by facilitating the planning and implementation stages. Although the number of studies investigating dietary compliance has increased markedly in the past decade, further study is warranted due to the strong presence of conflicting interests posed by commercial sponsorship.