American Diabetes Association, Abbott Announce Collaboration on Nutrition Program for Those with Diabetes

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and Abbott announced a new collaboration on a first-of-its-kind therapeutic nutrition program for individuals with diabetes, according to a statement released by the companies.

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“What [individuals] with diabetes eat is a critical part of managing their diabetes," Charles Henderson, CEO of the ADA, said in a statement. "Personalized nutrition using [continuous glucose monitoring] (CGMs) has the potential to revolutionize diabetes management by providing individuals with more data and tools to manage their glucose levels, improve their quality of life, and reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications.”

Over the next 3 years, Abbott is providing the ADA with a $2.65 million grant enabling them to better understand how diabetes technology like GCM systems can help those with diabetes make informed decisions about their diets, the statement said.

Specifically, the grant will allow the ADA to converse with health care professionals and opinion leaders to evaluate existing clinical evidence on how GCM systems can be used for personalized, therapeutic nutrition, as well as host roundtable discussions with health care experts to review existing evidence and investigate the role of GCM systems in providing nutrition recommendations, according to the statement.

Additionally, the companies said in the statement that they will launch 2 pilot programs targeted at adults with type 2 diabetes to gain a better understanding of the role that GCM systems can play in personalized therapeutic nutrition. They intend to leverage GCM data to understand how patients with diabetes use GCMs to meet their dietary objectives.

Despite the pivotal role that dietary habits play in glucose control, individual differences in glycemic response to many of the same foods makes it difficult to describe a nutrition plan for diabetes management that every patient can follow.

Research has shown that GCMs allow patients with diabetes to learn their glucose patterns and create a nutritional plan that provides steady glucose levels and the potential for improved clinical outcomes, like lowering A1C, according to the press release.

"Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre technology can be a critical tool for all [those] living with diabetes, not only those on insulin," Robert B. Ford, chairman CEO of Abbott, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with the [ADA] to gather further evidence to show how the technology we designed to be affordable and accessible can provide personalized insights to help [individuals] make informed decisions about their food and activity."

Reference

The American Diabetes Association and Abbott collaborate on first-of-its-kind therapeutic nutrition program for people with diabetes. News release. American Diabetes Association. June 24, 2023. June 29, 2023. Email.