A low-carbohydrate diet can be a useful approach to preventing and treating type 2 diabetes

A low-carbohydrate diet can be a useful approach to preventing and treating type 2 diabetes

While low-carb diets are often recommended for people being treated for diabetes, there is little evidence as to whether eating fewer carbohydrates can affect blood sugar in people with diabetes or prediabetes who are not being treated with medication.

Now, according to a new study from Tulane University, a low-carb diet may help people with untreated diabetes -; and those at risk of diabetes -; lower their blood sugar.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, compared two groups: one assigned to a low-carb diet and another who continued their usual diet. After six months, the low-carb diet group had a greater drop in hemoglobin A1c, a marker of blood sugar levels, compared to the group that ate their usual diet. The low-carb diet group also lost weight and had lower fasting glucose levels.

The key message is that a low-carbohydrate diet, if maintained, could be a useful approach to preventing and treating type 2 diabetes, although further research is needed.”

Kirsten Dorans, lead author, assistant professor of epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

About 37 million Americans have diabetes, a condition that occurs when the body does not use insulin properly and cannot regulate blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes accounts for more than 90% of these cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Type 2 diabetes can severely impact quality of life with symptoms such as blurred vision, numb hands and feet, and general fatigue, and can cause other serious health problems such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

The study's findings are particularly important for people with prediabetes, whose A1c levels are higher than normal but below the levels that would be classified as diabetes. About 96 million Americans have prediabetes, and more than 80% of those with prediabetes are unaware of it, according to the CDC. People with prediabetes are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks or strokes and typically do not take medications to lower blood sugar levels, making a healthy diet more important.

The study included participants whose blood sugar ranged from prediabetic to diabetic levels and who were not taking diabetes medications. Those in the low-carb group saw A1c levels fall 0.23% more than the usual diet group, an amount Dorans called "modest but clinically relevant." Importantly, fats accounted for about half of the calories consumed by the low-carb groups, but the fats were mostly healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in foods like olive oil and nuts.

Dorans said the study does not prove that a low-carb diet prevents diabetes. But it opens the door for further research into how to mitigate the health risks of people with prediabetes and diabetes who are not treated with medication.

"We already know that a low-carbohydrate diet is a nutritional approach used in people with type 2 diabetes, but there is not as much evidence about the effects of this diet on blood sugar in people with prediabetes," Dorans said. “Future work could be conducted to see whether this dietary approach could be an alternative approach to type 2 diabetes prevention.”

Source:

Tulane University

Reference:

Dorans, KS, et al. (2022) Effects of a Low Carbohydrate Dietary Intervention on Hemoglobin A1c A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA network opened. doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.38645.

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