In a new study to be published in October in the journal of Nutirition, 363 overweight and obese patients were recruited for a 24-week diet intervention trial; 102 of the patients had type-2 diabetes. Each participant was given a choice of either a low-carb diet or a low-calorie diet. Body weight, body mass index, changes in waist circumference, blood glucose level, changes in hemoglobin and glycosylated hemoglobin, total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol, HDL (good) cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, urea and creatinine were measured before and at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks after the start of the diets. In addition, participants were given bi-weekly dietary and medical counseling. Interestingly enough, the initial dose of some antidiabetic medications were decreased to half or even discontinued for the low-carb diet group.
The results of this study? Both diets had beneficial effects, although changes were more significant for the low-carb diet group. What does this mean to you? Once again, this is another study the shows the beneficial effect of a low-carb diet over conventional low-calorie diets in obese diabetic people. This is very important, considering that the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 170 million people worldwide have diabetes and this figure is expected to reach 366 million by 2030. As always, I continue to be encouraged by this steady stream of new research that validates efficacy and safety of low-carb diets, and it continues to support my belief that weight loss is not a one-size-fits-all approach.
