Low Carb

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Anchor lead: What is the impact of a low carbohydrate diet in people with diabetes? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Low carbohydrate diets seem to go in and out of favor, with a recent analysis of studies looking at their impact on those with diabetes. Rita Kalyani, a diabetes expert at Johns Hopkins, says there did seem to be benefits of these diets in the first several months of their adoption.

Kalyani: There was significantly greater weight loss, there was lower fasting glucose, and there was also beneficial effects on lipids. And interestingly they found that at 12 months most of these effects became less significant. What I concluded from this study is that while the low carbohydrate diet can be very beneficial and is safe for these multiple outcomes at six months, by twelve months perhaps because of the difficulty adhering to the diet for that length of time, many of these metabolic benefits were attenuated.  :29

Kalyani notes that this effect is similar to what is seen in many diet studies, but encourages those with diabetes who’d like to try to talk with their physician. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.