Low-carb diets should be reinstated as pillars of diabetes control, suggests new study

[DCUK NewsBot]

A new literature review suggests that current dietary guidelines on how to handle diabetes are not optimal and should be revised. In a recent editorial, published in the online journal Diet, Nutrition and Mental Health and Wellbeing, two members of the not for profit organisation Nutrition Society have assessed the strength of evidence in favour of low-carb diets for diabetes management.

The authors collected data from seven randomised control trials and intervention studies conducted between 2001 and 2015.

All of them appeared in peer-reviewed journals and tested low-carb against high-carb, low-fat diets for managing diabetes. Dr Sarah Illingworth and M.R. McKenzie, who are both affiliated to the London Metropolitan University, have looked at the impact of a low-carb diet on HbA1c levels, weight, changes in lipoproteins, blood sugar variability and adjustments in medication.

What they've found is that the lower the carb intake, the more significant are the reductions in HbA1c, with up to a 2.2 per cent reduction when daily carbohydrate intake is capped at 30 g. Perhaps more interestingly is how little carbohydrate reduction (under 120g per day) is needed to have at least some impact (-0.9%) on HbA1c.

In terms of lowering bodyweight, a low-carb diet resulted in almost twice the weight loss (4.7 kg) seen with a low-fat diet (2.9) after two years. Fasting blood sugars dropped like a rock (from 11.7 mmol/mol to 7.0 mmol/mol) very early on for many participants in response to low-carb diets.

Over half of those who consumed only 14 per cent of their total energy requirements as carbohydrate, compared to 53 per cent as per current dietary recommendations, could also safely reduce their medication. In many cases, the reduction in medication also correlated with less instances of hypoglycemia, a two-fold greater decrease in blood sugar variability and more time spent in target or normal range.

A low-carb diet (58% fat, 14% carbs) also appeared superior to low-fat (30% fat, 53% carbs) in preventing heart disease. Results showed the former reduces triglyceride levels and increases high density lipoprotein (HDL). Low-carb was also the winner in terms of treatment satisfaction and stress management, with people reporting less negative emotions during the day. To sum up, low-fat diets at the centre of official guidelines are not optimal for diabetes management.

They do not help people keep their blood sugars, weight and other very important health metrics under control as much as low-carb diets do. Illingworth and McKenzie ended their review by rooting for a carbohydrate-restricted diet to have a place within the guidelines. For more information about eating a low-carb diet, check out our Low Carb Program.

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[bulkbiker]

This needs boosting up and shouting out about...
Can we send it to all new joiners please?

 

[walnut_face]

and about time to

 

[Tophat1900]

and about time to

About time is right!

 

[mo53]

Brilliant article.

 

[Oldvatr]

Bump. @Administrator can we make this a 'sticky'? in the beginners section?

 

[Administrator]

Yeah, sure! Maybe we can edit it slightly so it's easier to read!

 

[Oldvatr]

Yeah, sure! Maybe we can edit it slightly so it's easier to read!

Don't forget to add the usual DCUK invitation to join the Low Carb diet course, that normally gets embedded into the news stories on this site. This time it is appropriate, so I will not whinge like I have done in the past,

Edit: @Administrator I make this dig because if a news item gets altered before being posted here, then it gives the readers here a false impression that LC is being discussed in the wider world, I would be happier if it was added as an obvious invite as perhaps a footnote to a news item rather than disguising it within the body of text. I support an LC diet for myself, so I agree that we need to spread the word. I like the posts I get on FB and try to share them without appearing to be over zealous.

 

[Mr_Pot]

Why does the title of the thread say "reinstated" - was low carb originally recommended as a treatment?

 

[bulkbiker]

Why does the title of the thread say "reinstated" - was low carb originally recommended as a treatment?

Yes in 1863 William Banting wrote a pamphlet on obesity and Type 2 and treating it with LCHF. Also pre the discovery of insulin it was the only way that Type 1 diabetics could live.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Banting

Amazingly insulin was discovered by someone else called Banting too

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/discoveryofinsulin.php

 

[Mr_Pot]

That's amazing, thanks @bulkbiker. I have also learned from google that the Swedish verb banta means to slim or diet.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Why does the title of the thread say "reinstated" - was low carb originally recommended as a treatment?

Cookery and Household Management
Printed 1936

Diabetes

Those suffering from this ailment require carefully to avoid all foods containing sugar and starch. The following Must be avoided:

Milk, sugar, flour, cornflour, oatmeal, rice, sago, macaroni, the various pulse foods, fruits containing a high percentage of sugar, potatoes, beets, carrots, peas, parsnips, broad beans, spanish onions.

The following are allowed:

meat, soups, fish, poultry, game and meat of all kinds. Also eggs, butter, cream, cheese, certain vegetables. Light dry wines. Weak unsweetened spirits. Tea, coffee and cocoa which may be sweetened with saccharine. There may be plentiful use of butter, cream, fat and oils if the digestion will allow.

 

[Jay-Marc]

Low carb has gone in and out of 'fashion' a few times - oddly even before insulin was available as a treatment. The main 'alternative' diet proposed then was low calorie rather than low fat.

 

[Oldvatr]

Low carb has gone in and out of 'fashion' a few times - oddly even before insulin was available as a treatment. The main 'alternative' diet proposed then was low calorie rather than low fat.

LOW Carb diets tend to fail simply because without the HF part, there is not much to hit the saiety switch, and so users suffer hunger pangs and carb cravings. Also the HF appears to assist weight loss by supporting keto which burns fat. So LCLF diet on the other hand only reduces glucogen and retained water, so plateau's out soon.

 

[covknit]

In Pears Cyclopedia 1965-1966 (one of those general household knowledge who, what, gardening atlas books which were the precursor of wikipedia) it says:-

Although we know so much about diabetes, we still have not the faintest notion as to what causes it. Its immediate cause is a failure in varying degrees of the pancreas to produce insulin but examination of the pancreas rarely reveals any significant changes. The disease is commonest between thirty and sixty years, but may occur even in children. Now, insulin is the substance which makes it possible for the body to make use of sugar- the glucose which is the end-product of the carbohydrate digestion. So in its absence the glucose, although there to be used, is useless to the body and accumulates in the blood, finally passing out in the urine. (The fundamental test for diabetes is the discovery of sugar in the urine by the use of certain simple procedures.) The diabetic, then, is being starved of sugar no matter how much he takes in, and the excess sugar in the blood cannot be used acts as a poison, which, in extreme cases, sends the patient into coma and may- indeed, in former times usually did-result in death. The symptoms of diabetes vary, of course, with ts severity, but in the main they are: increasing appetite on the part of the body to supply the sugar which is there but so tantalisingly unavailable, great thirst, because this useless sugar has to be excreted and the production of urine demands water, frequently in passing urine and increasing loss of weight in spite of all that is taken in. In severe and untreated cases boils, itching of the skin, gangrene of the limbs, and finally coma and death may occur.

Although mild cases of diabetes, and still can, be treated by dieting alone, by reducing the intake of carbohydrate, the diagnosis of diabetes prior to 1922 amounted almost to a death warrant. In that year, however the Canadian physicians Banting and Best separated out the secretion of the islets of langerhans and named it “insulin” ; they showed that insulin taken from the pancreas of animals and injected into the diabetic patient was just as effective of the home made article.

Since a diabetic regime has to be decided on by the doctor according to the severity of the disease, no useful purpose would be served by discussing the details of diet or dosage of insulin which vary from one person to another. On the whole, diabetes is more severe in young people than in the elderly but with correct treatment it is possible for all cases to lead to a perfectly normal life except insofar as dietary restrictions and insulins injections are concerned. Many famous people are or have been diabetics - for example, H G Wells - and have lived to a ripe old age. Recently, a drug has been discovered which has the great benefit that unlike insulin, it can be taken by mouth.

Whereas the type of diabetes we have been describing, the disease ordinarily known by that name is properly known as diabetes mellitus, there is another disease known as diabetes insipidus, which, in fact has no real relation to the other at all. In this disease there is no sugar in the urine nor has it anything to do with the pancreas. Diabetes insipidus characterised by the passage of large amounts of dilute urine and appears to be due to deficiency of the secretion of the posterior part of the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. It can be particularly controlled by the use of pituitrin.

So as recently has the 1960's expert advise was -avoid carbs

 

[LAR]

Just as an aside, today's article on the BBC a news site, shows fasting also regenerates the beta cells in the pancreas!!http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39070183
Hope I'm not 'off topic' ,

 

[juliegeorge13]

Brilliant article. Thank you. Jx

 

[brel]

nice article, but most of it went over my head, as I aint got a clue what to do with regards to diet, as there is too much conflicting advice on what diet to follow

 

[bulkbiker]

nice article, but most of it went over my head, as I aint got a clue what to do with regards to diet, as there is too much conflicting advice on what diet to follow

Read the success stories thread on this forum
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/success-stories-and-testimonials.43/
Most will be Low Carb way of eating..

 

[kittypoker]

nice article, but most of it went over my head, as I aint got a clue what to do with regards to diet, as there is too much conflicting advice on what diet to follow

If you check out https://www.dietdoctor.com/ it might be a bit clearer. I know it's hard to get your head around - I failed on the high carb, low fat diet for well over 40 years - but, promise, cutting way down on carbs and upping fats is sustainable for weight loss, control of blood glucose levels and even some forms of epilepsy. It's the way forward.