Diabetic patients should have low-carb diets: Study

A new study has revealed that diet with low carbohydrates is good for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients. Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham offered 12 points of evidence showing that low-carbohydrate diets should be the first line of attack for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, and should be used in conjunction with insulin for those with Type 1 diabetes.

Barbara Gower, Ph.D., professor and vice chair for research in the UAB Department of Nutrition Sciences, stated that diabetes was a disease of carbohydrate intolerance and reducing carbohydrates was the obvious treatment. He further added that it was the standard approach before insulin was discovered and was practised with good results in many institutions.

The researchers pointed out that dietary carbohydrate restriction had the greatest effect on decreasing blood glucose levels because the high blood sugar was the most salient feature of diabetes. At the same time, they have cautioned that people with diabetes who are already on drugs for Type 2 diabetes or are on standard amounts of insulin should undertake conversion to a low-carbohydrate diet only with the help of a physician. Since the diet may have a similar sugar-lowering effect, it is critical that drug doses be tapered off in order to avoid dangerously low blood sugar.