Applying the DASH Diet to Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
Question: How does
the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet affect patients
suffering from diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2)?
Hypothesis: A significant portion of the DASH diet consists of grains and fruits that would
exacerbate diabetic patients by increasing their blood glucose level.
Methods: A pool
of 1000 participants, all consisting of patients suffering from DM2 will be
selected for the experiment. The patients have to be between 30 – 50 years old
and the pool should have a 1:1 ratio of men and women. The pool will be divided
into the experimental group and the control group leaving both groups with 500
participants (250 male and 250 female). To further eliminate possible bias from
the results, the experiment will be a double blind[1],
clinical trial[2]. The
cover story for both the diabetic participants and the researchers on-hand will
be that the experiment is trying to determine how much diabetic patients crave
certain foods, as they grow older and as their hemoglobin A1c[3]
level changes.
The experiment is expected to last for three years with the
participants checking in with their primary care provider every three months
for their routine blood check. The glucose meters of assigned to diabetic
patients will also be collected to read the differences in blood glucose levels
throughout the experiment. During this period, patients are expected to maintain
the DASH diet provided by a stipend. Annual physical check-ups will also be
done to determine if there were any benefits present elsewhere in the body. Patients
in the control group will be allowed to consume a placebo[4], a
random assortment of food.
Analysis: The the independent variable, in this case, is the presence of the DASH diet of fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods. The dependent variable will
be the participant’s hemoglobin A1c levels, glucose readings, and the presence of
any specific improvements during annual physical check-ups. Since there are
three different dependent variables, a multivariate analysis will be needed to
search for any statistically significant[5]
results.
Conclusion:
Analysis of the DASH diet for DM2 participants indicates no significant improvements
in health condition. Hemoglobin a1c levels remained constant if not elevated
and glucose levels continued to spike in part due to fruit intake. The DASH
diet appears ineffective in treating instances of elevated blood glucose.
[1] Both participants and researchers do not know the
about the experiment or are mislead about the experiment.
[2] Study in which, one group receives experimental
procedure, while the other receives the imitation treatment.
[3] Glucose attaches to hemoglobin in red blood cells and
is used as an indicator of average blood glucose levels over the last 3 months.
[4] Imitation treatment design to mask the which group is
receiving the actual experimental treatment + rule out the possibly of results
being skewed by placebo effect.
[5] Data indicating that the connection between variables
has not occurred through sheer chance.
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