Please indicate your preliminary interest in applying for funding under this RFP by writing to Marie Latulippe at mlatulippe@ilsi.org no later than January 9, 2021.

Using LCSs in place of added sugars allows more room in the healthy eating plan for other sources of carbohydrate, such as whole grains, fruit, and vegetables, while potentially satisfying the desire for sweet taste. LCSs in place of added sugars can also help reduce total carbohydrate intake. In turn, LCSs may be a helpful tool in type 1 or type 2 diabetes to manage post-prandial blood glucose levels. QoL is an important aspect in management of diabetes, as reduced QoL can negatively affect diabetes-related outcomes. Effective blood glucose control is also associated with better QoL in children with diabetes, suggesting that decreased QoL may negatively impact successful diabetes management. This knowledge may also be useful to clinicians who field questions about the general utility of LCSs, particularly when there has been increasing public misunderstanding of both their safety and efficacy for various intended outcomes.

Links between one’s eating plan and QoL have been studied previously, but links between use of LCSs within eating plans and QoL have not been studied. A recent systematic review sponsored by the World Health Organization that was designed to investigate the effects of LCS use for people with diabetes included health-related QoL as an outcome measure. However, authors did not identify any data in the peer-reviewed literature that met the inclusion-exclusion criteria specified. Authors concluded that data on this “patient-important outcome” were “scarce or lacking.

For the study under this Request for Proposals, ILSI North America is seeking input from applicants on appropriate survey selection as well as design and incorporation of questions about use of LCSs. The objective is to assess the relationship between use of LCSs and health-related Quality of Life (QoL) measures in adults or families with children residing in North America that were diagnosed with diabetes (types 1 or 2) not less than 1 year ago.

Access the full Request for Proposals.

Please submit proposals by 11:59 p.m. ET on January 30, 2021 to Marie Latulippe (mlatulippe@ilsi.org).