1174 https://oamjms.eu/index.php/mjms/index Scientifc Foundation SPIROSKI, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2022 Jun 15; 10(E):1174-1177. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2022.9986 eISSN: 1857-9655 Category: E - Public Health Section: Public Health Disease Control Nutrition Education Regarding the Glycemic Index on the Knowledge of Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Eliza Eliza 1 *, Sumarman Sumarman 2 , Andi Eka Yunianto 3 , Dzul Fadly 4 1 Politeknik Kesehatan Palembang, Ministry of Health, Palembang, Indonesia; 2 Public Health Offce of South Sumatera Province, Palembang, South Sumatera, Indonesia; 3 Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Science, Universitas Siliwangi, Tasikmalaya, Indonesia; 4 Department of Food Technology, Universitas Tanjungpura, Pontianak, Indonesia Abstract BACKGROUND: Knowledge is one of the keys to diabetes management. Increasing knowledge is an effort to improve their lifestyle to maintain the stability of their blood sugar, one of which is through the media booklet. The booklet is an infuential media in nutrition education to improve diabetes mellitus patient knowledge related to the glycemic index. AIM: This study aims to analyze the effect of nutrition education on the knowledge of DM patients about the glycemic index. METHODS: It was quantitative research using a quasi-experimental research design, with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The total sample consisted of 46 respondents: A treatment group (23 respondents) and a comparison group (23 respondents). Nutrition education was conducted through poster media in the control group and booklet media in the treatment group, given 3 times for 2 weeks in patients with diabetes. The Mann–Whitney test was used to analyze the respondent’s glycemic index characteristics and intake in the treatment and control, while paired t-test was conducted to determine the difference in the respondents’ level of knowledge before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The dependent t-test showed a signifcant difference in the average knowledge before and after the nutritional counseling with booklet media in the treatment group, p = 0.024 (α < 0.005). CONCLUSION: Nutrition education program regarding the glycemic index through booklet media was the potential to increase patients’ nutritional knowledge. Edited by: Sasho Stoleski Citation: Eliza E, Sumarman S, Yunianto AE, Fadly D. Nutrition Education Regarding the Glycemic Index on the Knowledge of Patients with Diabetes Mellitus. OpenAccess Maced J Med Sci. 2022 Jun 15; 10(E):1174-1177. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2022.9986 Keywords: Booklet; Nutrition education; Glycemic index; Knowledge; Diabetes mellitus *Correspondence: Eliza Eliza, Palembang Health Polytechnic, Ministry of Health, Palembang, Indonesia. E-mail: eliza_limar@yahoo.co.id Received: 28-Apr-2022 Revised: 18-May-2022 Accepted: 05-Jun-2022 Copyright: © 2022 Eliza Eliza, Sumarman Sumarman, Andi Eka Yunianto, Dzul Fadly Funding: This research did not receive any fnancial support Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist Open Access: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) Introduction Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder disease through its complications and severely impacts an individual’s quality of life [1], [2]. The prevalence of diabetes and its increasing number of sufferers worldwide can be devastating to the development of health care systems and economies in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that the number of people with diabetes is increasing rapidly. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), people with diabetes in Indonesia were 7291.9 in 2011 to 19,465.1 in 2021 [3]. It is supported by the previous research showing that diabetes prevalence had increased by about 6.20% [4]. The increasing prevalence of diabetes requires a new approach to its management. Foods with high carbohydrate content and a high glycemic index and glycemic load can increase the risk of diabetes [5]. A low glycemic index has been proposed as a valuable means of managing the glucose response [6]. The previous studies have shown that adopting a low GI diet in diabetic people is helpful for glycemic control and can reduce body weight [7]. Therefore, broad and clear knowledge is needed to ensure that the GI diet plays a role in controlling complications caused by diabetes [8]. Education is needed to increase the knowledge of diabetics. The previous studies found a positive impact of diabetes education on self-management by diabetics [9]. The information process supports them in gaining the good knowledge needed to practice self-care so that the goals of diabetes therapy are achieved. It requires proper health promotion to change a better lifestyle for diabetics [10]. So far, the provision of interventions to diabetic patients is only limited to knowledge of dietary regulation but not yet specifcally knowledge about the glycemic index of food. This study aims to analyze the effect of nutrition education on the knowledge of DM patients. Methods Study design This research was conducted at the Palembang Social Health Center. The allocation of research time