Approximately 37 million Americans have diabetes, a condition that occurs when the body doesn’t use insulin properly and can’t regulate blood sugar levels.
Type 2 diabetes comprises more than 90% of those cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While low-carb diets are often recommended for those being treated for diabetes, little evidence exists on whether eating fewer carbs can impact the blood sugar of those with diabetes or prediabetes who aren’t treated by medications.
In a study from Tulane University, scientists found that a low-carb diet can help those with unmedicated diabetes—and those at risk for diabetes—lower their blood sugar.
They compared two groups: one assigned to a low-carb diet and another that continued with their usual diet.
Importantly, fats made up around half of the calories eaten by those in the low-carb group, but the fats were mostly healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in foods like olive oil and nuts.
After six months, the low-carb diet group had greater drops in hemoglobin A1c, a marker for blood sugar levels, when compared with the group who ate their usual diet.
Those in the low-carb group saw A1c levels drop 0.23% more than the usual diet group.
The low-carb diet group also lost weight and had lower fasting blood sugar levels.
The team says the key message is that a low-carbohydrate diet if maintained, might be a useful approach for preventing and treating Type 2 diabetes, though more research is needed.
The study’s findings are especially important for those with prediabetes whose A1c levels are higher than normal but below levels that would be classified as diabetes.
Approximately 96 million Americans have prediabetes and more than 80% of those with prediabetes are unaware, according to the CDC.
Those with prediabetes are at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart attacks or strokes and are usually not taking medications to lower blood sugar levels, making a healthy diet more crucial.
The study opens the door to further research about how to mitigate the health risks of those with prediabetes and diabetes not treated by medication.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies that eating more eggs linked to higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and people with high intake of linoleic acid have lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies about unhealthy plant-based diets linked to metabolic syndrome, and results showing Mediterranean diet could help reduce the diabetes risk by 30%.
The study was conducted by Kirsten Dorans et al and published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
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