New Study Shows Low-Carb Diet Improves Glucose Control in Diabetics*

A1c showed a marked decrease from 9.0 to 6.4% over 5 weeks in patients with untreated type 2 diabetes "Potentially, this could be a patient-empowering way to ameliorate hyperglycemia without pharmacological intervention," co-authors Dr. Mary C. Gannon and Dr. Frank Q. Nuttall, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, note. However, further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of such a diet, they add.

The findings stem from a crossover study of eight men with type 2 diabetes. For 5 weeks, the subjects consumed a diet with a carbohydrate to protein to fat ratio of either 20:30:50 (test diet) or 55:15:30 (control diet). After a 5-week washout period, the subjects then consumed the opposite diet for 5 weeks.

The test diet, designed to be weight maintaining and nonketogenic, was referred to as the low-biologically-available-glucose (LoBAG) diet.

The average 24-hour glucose levels at the end of the LoBAG and control diet phases were 126 and 198 mg/dL, respectively. The corresponding HbA1c percentages were 7.6 and 9.8.
The HbA1c percentage was still falling at the end of the LoBAG diet phase. Based on this, the researchers estimate that the final HbA1c percentage was between 6.4 and 5.4.

Other changes associated with the LoBAG diet included decreased insulin levels and increased glucagon levels. By contrast, no change in the cholesterol level was observed.
"A LoBAG diet can dramatically reduce the 24-hour integrated glucose concentration and consequently the percentage of glycohemoglobin in people with type 2 diabetes," the investigators conclude.
Diabetes 2004;53:2375-2382.