Research continues to support the effectiveness of low-carb diets in winning the war on type-2 diabetes. This time, a new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research Diabetes conducted Drs. Stephen Phinney, Sarah Hallberg, and Jeff Volek, offers new evidence that a low-carb diet like Atkins may be effective at managing or even reversing type-2 diabetes. Once again, this is contrary to the standard dietary advice that advocated a low-fat diet and medications, or even bariatric surgery, as a way to manage the disease.
In this new study, 262 obese participants with type-2 diabetes were put on a diet that restricted their carbs to 30 grams or less daily, while they consumed more fat and optimal (not high) levels of protein. They also received online counseling and support during the study.
The results? Most people in the study were taking at least one diabetes medication at the beginning of the study, but within ten weeks, 60 percent of the folks had the number and/or dosage of their medications decreased, or they even were able to stop taking their medications all together. In addition, participants lost about 7.2 percent of their body weight and some reduced their triglycerides by 20 percent. There was a relatively small drop-out rate, which also suggests something many of us have known all along… that a low-carb diet is not a “diet” per se, but is actually a way of eating you can live with.