A new UK study has reported 51% of participants who adopted a low-carbohydrate diet achieved type 2 diabetes remission – which meant they were eventually able to stop taking medications.
The study also noted individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within the previous year were more likely to achieve remission than those who had diabetes for a longer duration, while 97% of type 2 diabetes patients who adopted a low-carbohydrate diet experienced improvements in blood glycemic control.
In the study, published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, the authors evaluated data over 8 years from 186 patients with type 2 diabetes at their primary care clinic who had opted for a low-carbohydrate approach to diabetes management over an average follow-up period of 33 months.
During the routine follow-up visits, clinicians provided advice on maintaining a low-carbohydrate diet and shared information about how this diet could help achieve better blood glucose control and how to identify and avoid ‘trigger’ foods (highly palatable foods that lead to over-eating).
Patients opting for the low carbohydrate approach showed an average decline in body weight of 10kgs (22lbs) and 97% showed a ‘significant’ improvement in blood glycemic control.
In addition, they showed lower cardiovascular disease markers, plus a ‘significant’ reduction in average blood pressure, triglyceride levels and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) levels.
Of the 186 patients, 94 (54%) showed ‘sustained remission’, achieving HbA1c levels below the remission threshold of 48 mmol/mol for more than 3 months.
And 77% of patients who adopted a low-carbohydrate diet within the first year after diagnosis with type 2 diabetes achieved remission; in contrast remission was achieved by 35% of patients adopting the low-carb diet between 1-5 years after diagnosis, and only 20% of patients adopting the diet more than 15 years after diagnosis.
Study author Dr David Unwin told medicalnewstoday.com the 77% of first year adopters achieving remission represents a really important ‘window of opportunity’ for further investigation.
US endocrinologist Dr Ari Eckman (not involved in the study) supported described the results as ‘very significant given the fact that many patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus would like to eventually come off their medications.’
