Could Potentially Eliminate Need for Medication
New research from UAB, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, shows that adults with Type 2 diabetes who follow a low-carbohydrate diet might experience improvements in their beta-cell function, potentially helping them manage their condition more effectively and possibly allowing them to reduce or eliminate the need for medication.
More than 38 million Americans have diabetes, and more than 90 percent of them have Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes usually presents in people who are 45 or older. However, it is becoming more common in children, teenagers and young adults too.
People with Type 2 diabetes have a compromised beta-cell response to blood sugar, possibly due in part to eating too many carbohydrates. Beta-cell failure or insufficiency on top of insulin resistance is responsible for the development and progression of Type 2 diabetes.
The study compared two groups of adults with Type 2 diabetes: one group followed a low-carb diet, and the other followed a high-carb diet. Participants were asked to stop taking their diabetes medication before the study started so any changes in their health could be linked to the diet. All participants were given their meals. The study found that the low-carb diet improved beta-cell function and insulin secretion, even after accounting for any weight loss.
The researchers found those on a low-carbohydrate versus a high-carbohydrate diet saw improvements in the acute and maximal beta-cell responses that were twofold and 22 percent greater, respectively. Within each race group, Black adults on a low-carbohydrate diet saw 110 percent greater improvements in the acute beta-cell response and White adults had improvements in the maximal beta-cell response that were 48 percent greater than their respective counterparts on the high-carbohydrate diet.
“Further research is needed to determine if a low-carbohydrate diet can restore beta-cell function and lead to remission in people with Type 2 diabetes,” said lead study author Barbara Gower, PhD, chair of the UAB Department of Nutrition Sciences.
