A study has found that a low-carb diet promotes weight loss and improves fasting glucose levels in people at risk of developing T2D.
The study said the link between carbohydrates and type 2 diabetes is well established, but new research suggests that reducing carbohydrates can help reduce risk for those who may be at risk of developing the condition, Medical News Today reported, citing JAMA Network Open. Diabetes and Endocrinology.
common clinical term
“Reducing blood sugar by following a low-carb diet,” said lead researcher and epidemiologist Kristen Dorans, of Tulane University in New Orleans, Los Angeles, noting that “glycosylated hemoglobin,” or A1C, is a widely used clinical term. To measure long-term blood sugar levels, by identifying the rate of plasma glucose concentration.
Pre-diabetes
According to the American Diabetes Foundation, a person with prediabetes has A1C levels between 5.7 and less than 6.5%, and higher levels may indicate diabetes. Dr. Dorans explained that study participants had a hemoglobin A1C range of 6.0 to 6.9%.
“This range chosen as the lower bound corresponds to the WHO lower cut-off point for diabetes and the upper bound to the hemoglobin A1C target set by the American Diabetes Association of 7.0%,” she said.
60 grams less carbs
The experiments at the Academic Center in New Orleans lasted for 6 months, from September 2018 to June 2021. The participants’ ages ranged from 40 to 70 years and were divided into two groups.
The first group was tasked with reducing their daily carbohydrate intake to less than 40 g in the first three months and less than 60 g from the third month until the end of the trial. Indeed, “the low-carb diet group lost significantly more weight compared to the group of people who continued their usual diet.”
At the end of 6 months, Dr. Dorans and her research team discovered that A1C levels were 0.23% lower in the low-carb group than in the regular diet group.
ketosis systems
Low-carb diets, such as the ketogenic diet, can start the metabolic process known as ketosis, which occurs when the body burns stored fat for energy instead of glucose.
But ketosis does not usually occur with a low-carb diet. According to the researchers, “a small number of participants had detectable urinary ketones, suggesting that ketosis is unlikely to be responsible for the results.”
But Dr. Samuel Klein, professor of cell biology and physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study, expressed concerns about study participants meeting their carbohydrate goals, explaining that the data “shows that there is poor compliance with the diet.”
side effects
“We don’t have good evidence of long-term negative effects,” said Dr. Jason Ng, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. “We know that many people follow the Atkins diet, and we don’t see any real reports of problems.”
“When you reduce your carbohydrate intake and increase your fat intake,” Dr. Klein added, “you tend to increase LDL cholesterol, which was not the case in this study, but you decrease triglycerides and increase HDL cholesterol, which is a good thing. He explained that the potential for a low-carb diet to be dangerous to health depends primarily on the individual and his or her health in general.