Merve YILMAZ, Seray DİKİLİTAŞ, Yasemin ATİK ALTINOK, Damla GÖKŞEN
Trends in Pediatrics - 2026;7(2):109-117
Objective: The study aims to evaluate the nutrition literacy and healthy lifestyle beliefs among adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1D) and identify their relationship to metabolic control. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 153 adolescents aged 10-19 years who were being followed in the outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital with a diagnosis of T1D for more than one year and had no comorbidities requiring dietary treatment. All participants completed the Adolescent Nutrition Literacy Scale (ANLS) and Healthy Lifestyle Belief Scale for Adolescents (HLBS) during a regularly scheduled medical visit. Hospital records yielded the last three months' HbA1c levels to assess metabolic control. Targeted metabolic control was defined as <=7% HbA1c. Results: The median age of the participants was 14.66 (4.42) years (45.8% were female), 58.2% had a normal BMI z-score, and 26.8% were achieving target HbA1c (<=7%). There was a positive correlation between the HLBS total score and the ANLS total score (r=0.39, p=0.001). The 'interactive' subfactor of ANLS, which evaluates the capacity to manage the process of nutrition in cooperation with nutrition and health professionals, was correlated with healthy lifestyle beliefs (r= 0.28, p= 0.001). Another ANLS subfactor, the 'critical' subfactor, which assesses the capacity to make critical judgments about nutrition-related information and to take actions to raise awareness in this area, was also correlated with healthy lifestyle beliefs (r = 0.37, p = 0.001). There was no difference between HLBS and ANLS total and subfactor scores between those who achieved (<=7%) and failed to achieve (>7%) the HbA1c target (p>0.05). Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that nutrition literacy is a notable determinant of the adoption of healthy lifestyle beliefs among adolescents with T1D. Further research with a larger sample is needed to investigate indirect effects on diabetes self-management and long-term metabolic outcomes.
