【Abstract】 Objective To observe and analyze the nursing effect of cognitive diet program on dialysis patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy. Methods 76 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with renal disease were selected from January 2015 to May 2016. The patients were divided into two groups by random number table method. Group 1 was routine nursing group. The second group for the cognitive diet group, the patient before and after nursing care 6 months of the biochemical indicators and complications were observed. The anxiety and depressive symptoms of the two groups were evaluated by the selfrating anxiety scale (SAS) and the selfrating depression scale (SDS). WHOQOLBREF was used to evaluate the quality of life before and after treatment. Results The levels of BUN, TG and TC were significantly different between the two groups (P＜005). The levels of HbA1c, LDLC, Crea, TP and Alb were not statistically significant (P＞ 005). In the cognitive diet group, the hypertension, acute heart failure, severe hyperkalemia, overweight, SAS score, SDS score, psychological field, physiology field, environmental field and social relationship scores were significantly different from those of routine nursing group t (P＞ 005). There were significant differences between the two groups in the total dietary behavior, the total amount of food, the law of eating, the number of meals, the way of food processing, the amount of salt and the dietary structure (P＜005). Conclusion Cognitive diet nursing program for patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy dialysis patients have a good diet care effect, and can improve the biochemical indicators, reduce the incidence of complications and improve the quality of life of patients.