A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF DIETARY HABITS ON TYPE II DIABETIC RETINOPATHY CORRELATING WITH HBA1C LEVELS, AMONG PATIENTS ATTENDING A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL ATTACHED TO ANDHRA MEDICAL COLLEGE, VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRAPRADESH.

Background: Type 2 diabetes, right nowaffecting almost 10 % of the population, is one of the most frequently encountered metabolic disorders in India.Almost every organ in the body can be adversely affected with the onset of diabetes and its incidence is increasing day by day.Though diabetes is caused by a complex interaction of genetic and lifestyle factors.the most obvious reason for this increase especially in the number of young diabetics is their frenetic lifestyle and dietary habits.The type of food and the way it was prepared (Boiled or Broiled) that was most commonly consumed was also making a significant difference on the outcome of the diabetic complications and HbA1c levels there by the incidence of retinopathy. Most of the junk foods now being consumed by us come under the group of broiled food. The re-usage of the oils in the preparation of fried junk foods also makes a huge difference in making the HbA1c raise in the Diabetics. Aims of the study:To review the role of food habits (boiled versus broiled food intake) in the development of Diabetic retinopathy and correlating with HbA1c levels. Methodology:50 Diabetic patients were enrolled in this study, with a slandered form of questionnaire. They were reviewed on an outpatient basis in regular intervals with their blood reports. Each patient was examined for diabetic retinopathy and noted. Results: Our study confirms the relation between the dietary habits and the diabetic retinopathy, as there is an increasing trend in theHbA1c levels, in those who were consuming broiled food intake, like deep fried junk foods. Conclusions: In this study it was observed that only 37 % of patients who were mainly on boiled food dietary habit were having poor levels HbA1c, when compared with broiled food eaters it was 59%. This observation correlated with the diabetic retinopathy being more in the broiled food eaters, when compared with boiled food dietary habit people. It was now very evident that avoiding the consumption of broiled food and deep fried junk food, decreases the AGE, there by decreases the diabetic vascular complications.