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A low-carbohydrate
diet is better than a low-fat diet in helping obese people
manage their diabetes, according to a study reported in the
May 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Department
of Veterans Affairs researchers found that obese patients
on a low-carbohydrate diet for six months lost more weight
and fared better from a diabetic standpoint than patients
on a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet.
Participants
in the study, one of the first to explore the effects of a
low-carbohydrate diet on people who were unhealthy, had an
average weight of 288 pounds and many had conditions such
as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol
levels and depression.
Among
diabetics participating in the study, those on the low-carbohydrate
diet reduced their fasting blood-sugar levels by about 9 percent,
versus only a 2 percent reduction in fasting blood-sugar levels
for those on the low-fat diet.
Over the
six-month study, seven diabetic patients in the low-carbohydrate
group were able to reduce the medications they were taking
to control their blood sugar. Only one diabetic patient in
the low-fat diet group was able to lower his insulin dose
and one had to begin taking insulin.
"Diabetics
in particular did very well on the low-carbohydrate diet,"
said researcher Linda Stern, a primary care doctor at the
Philadelphia VA Medical Center and clinical assistant professor
of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
According
to Stern, a low-carbohydrate diet avoids blood sugar fluctuations
and the constant insulin spikes that lead to the development
of insulin resistance, which sets the stage for diabetes.
Source:
Diabetes
Week of May 25, 2003
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