How Low-Carb Diets Benefit Obese Diabetics
Boden G, Sargrad K, Homko C, Mozzoli M, Stein TP. Effect of a low-carbohydrate diet on appetite, blood glucose levels, and insulin resistance in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Ann Intern Med 2005; 142: 403-411 Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, Stratford, New Jersey. ABSTRACT |
COMMENT:
So just 2 weeks on a low-carbohydrate diet can lower blood pressure, improve blood-sugar control and reduce levels of blood fats and cholesterol in obese individuals with Type 2 diabetes.
"When we took away the carbohydrates, the patients spontaneously reduced their daily energy consumption by 1000 calories a day," said lead researcher Dr Guenther Boden, from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Importantly, patients did not compensate by eating more protein or fat. "The carbohydrates were clearly stimulating their excessive appetites," he said.
Participants,who were very obese, with an average body mass index of more than 40 kg/m2, stayed at a research centre for the duration of the study, eating their usual diet for the first 7 days, then following a low-carbohydrate diet, which included about 21 g of carbohydrates per day, for the next 14 days.
This is yet another study that supports a low-carb diet for diabetics. There have been so many studies showing this over the past half century that I wonder just how many more we need before the Diabetes establishment actually wakes up and stops harming people with their '5 a day' nonsense!
The authors remark that the long-term effects are uncertain, yet there are reams of evidence that the only effects are beneficial.
Last updated 2 April 2005
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