News & Research

The case for low carbohydrate diets in diabetes management

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Abstract

A low fat, high carbohydrate diet in combination with regular exercise is the traditional recommendation for treating diabetes. Compliance with these lifestyle modifications is less than satisfactory, however, and a high carbohydrate diet raises postprandial plasma glucose and insulin secretion, thereby increasing risk of CVD, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity and diabetes. Moreover, the current epidemic of diabetes and obesity has been, over the past three decades, accompanied by a significant decrease in fat consumption and an increase in carbohydrate consumption. This apparent failure of the traditional diet, from a public health point of view, indicates that alternative dietary approaches are needed. Because carbohydrate is the major secretagogue of insulin, some form of carbohydrate restriction is a prima facie candidate for dietary control of diabetes. Evidence from various randomized controlled trials in recent years has convinced us that such diets are safe and effective, at least in short-term. These data show low carbohydrate diets to be comparable or better than traditional low fat high carbohydrate diets for weight reduction, improvement in the dyslipidemia of diabetes and metabolic syndrome as well as control of blood pressure, postprandial glycemia and insulin secretion. Furthermore, the ability of low carbohydrate diets to reduce triglycerides and to increase HDL is of particular importance. Resistance to such strategies has been due, in part, to equating it with the popular Atkins diet. However, there are many variations and room for individual physician planning. Some form of low carbohydrate diet, in combination with exercise, is a viable option for patients with diabetes. However, the extreme reduction of carbohydrate of popular diets (<30 g/day) cannot be recommended for a diabetic population at this time without further study. On the other hand, the dire objections continually raised in the literature appear to have very little scientific basis. Whereas it is traditional to say that more work needs to be done, the same is true of the assumed standard low fat diets which have an ambiguous record at best. We see current trends in the national dietary recommendations as a positive sign and an appropriate move in the right direction.

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Dietary Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat for People With Glucose Metabolism Disorders. Just What is Optimal?

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Dietary Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat for People With
Glucose Metabolism Disorders. Just What is
Optimal?

A collection of research, studies, science, facts, and opinions.

Dr Katharine Morrison.
February 2005.

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Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double-Edged Sword

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From an evolutionary perspective, humanity’s adoption of agriculture, and hence cereal grain consumption, is a relatively recent phenomenon. Table 3 shows that this event occurred in most parts of the world between 5,500 and 10,000 years ago. Cereal grains represent a biologically novel food for mankind [341, 342], consequently there is considerable genetic discordance between this staple food, and the foods to which our species is genetically adapted.

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Clinical Studies on Chromium Picolinate Supplementation in Diabetes Mellitus—A Review

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ABSTRACT

Chromium (Cr) picolinate (CrPic) is a widely used nutritional supplement for optimal insulin function. A relationship among Cr status, diabetes, and associated pathologies has been established. Virtually all trials using CrPic supplementation for subjects with diabetes have demonstrated beneficial effects. Thirteen of 15 clinical studies (including 11 randomized, controlled studies) involving a total of 1,690 subjects (1,505 in CrPic group) reported significant improvement in at least one outcome of glycemic control. All 15 studies showed salutary effects in at least one parameter of diabetes management, including dyslipidemia. Positive outcomes from CrPic supplementation included reduced blood glucose, insulin, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels and reduced requirements for hypoglycemic medication. The greater bioavailability of CrPic compared with other forms of Cr (e.g., niacin-bound Cr or CrCl3) may explain its comparatively superior efficacy in glycemic and lipidemic control. The pooled data from studies using CrPic supplementation for type 2 diabetes mellitus subjects show substantial reductions in hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, which equate to a reduced risk for disease complications. Collectively, the data support the safety and therapeutic value of CrPic for the management of cholesterolemia and hyperglycemia in subjects with diabetes.

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Arguments In Favor Of Ketogenic Diets

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Abstract
Many negative comments have been made about the use of ketogenic diets (KDs) and experts today
believe that the best way to lose weight is by cutting back on calories, chiefly in the form of fat. The
international consensus is that carbohydrates are the basis of the food pyramid for a healthy diet.
However, this review will clarify that low-carbohydrate diets are, from a practical and physiological point
of view, a much more effective way of losing weight. It is also argued that such diets provide metabolic
advantages, for example: they help to preserve muscle mass, reduce appetite, diminish metabolic
efficiency, induce metabolic activation of thermogenesis and favor increased fat loss and even a greater
reduction in calories. These diets are also healthier because they promote a non-atherogenic lipid profile,
lower blood pressure and decrease resistance to insulin with an improvement in blood levels of glucose
and insulin. Low-carbohydrate diets should therefore be used to prevent and treat type II diabetes and
cardiovascular problems. Such diets also have neurological and antineoplastic benefits and diet-induced
ketosis is not associated with metabolic acidosis, nor do such diets alter kidney, liver or heart functions.

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Panel suggests that dietary guidelines stop warning about cholesterol in food – Harvard Health Blog – Harvard Health Publications

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The scientific advisory panel for the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans may drop the recommendation to limit foods high in cholesterol.

Source: Panel suggests that dietary guidelines stop warning about cholesterol in food – Harvard Health Blog – Harvard Health Publications

The Soft Science of Dietary Fat

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Mainstream nutritional science has demonized dietary fat, yet 50 years and hundreds of millions of dollars of research have failed to prove that eating a low-fat diet will help you live longer. Indeed, the history of the national conviction that dietary fat is deadly, and its evolution from hypothesis to dogma, is one in which politicians, bureaucrats, the media, and the public have played as large a role as the scientists and the science. It’s a story of what can happen when the demands of public health policy–and the demands of the public for simple advice–run up against the confusing ambiguity of real science.

Source: The Soft Science of Dietary Fat | Science