A low-carb diet can help diabetics achieve weight loss and better glucose control compared to a low-fat diet. SciTechDaily Citing the Annals of Internal Medicine.
According to the results of a randomized trial of more than 100 people with type 2 diabetes, participating patients achieved better weight loss and glucose control during a 6-month intervention, following a low-carbohydrate, high-fat, high-calorie diet compared to a high-carbohydrate, low-calorie diet. Fats.
Expressive
long term changes
Changes did not persist 3 months after the intervention trial, indicating the need for long-term dietary changes to maintain meaningful health benefits.
More than 480 million people worldwide suffer from type 2 diabetes. More than half of people with diabetes also suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can progress to cirrhosis and impair liver function.
Previous studies suggest that weight loss improves control of diabetes and cases of NAFLD, and that restricting carbohydrate intake improves control of blood sugar levels.
Scientists from the University of Southern Denmark randomly assigned 165 people with type 2 diabetes to follow either a low-carb, high-fat LCHF diet or a high-carb, low-fat HCLF diet for 6 months. Participants in both groups were asked to eat the same number of calories equal to their energy expenditure.
Patients on a low-carbohydrate diet were instructed to consume no more than 20% of their calories from carbohydrates but could obtain 50–60% of their calories from fat, and 20–30% from protein. Participants on the low-fat diet were asked to eat half of their calories from carbohydrates, with the remainder divided equally between fats and proteins.
Cholesterol and triglycerides
The researchers found that people on the low-carb diet had 0.59% more hemoglobin A1c reduction than the low-fat diet, and they lost 3.8 kg more weight, compared to those in the low-fat group. Participants on the low-carb diet also lost more body fat and reduced waist circumference. Both groups had higher HDL cholesterol and lower triglycerides at 6 months.
But the changes did not last 3 months after the intervention, suggesting that dietary changes must be continued over the long term to maintain effects. The liver was not affected by the higher fats in the low-carb group, as the researchers found no difference in the amount of liver fat or inflammation between the two groups.