The keto diet may be more than just a trendy health craze.
Studies show that a very low-carbohydrate diet can significantly lower blood sugar levels in people with pre-diabetes.
A ketogenic diet drastically reduces carbohydrate intake and replaces it with foods high in fat and protein.
Proponents claim it can cause a myriad of health benefits, from keeping the mind sharp to improving heart health.
Many of the claims have been proven bogus or unproven, but new research shows that diet can prevent the most at-risk type 2 diabetes.
The researchers looked at 150 people between the ages of 40 and 70 whose blood sugar levels ranged from pre-diabetic to diabetic and who were not taking medication for the condition.
One group had a normal diet and was monitored for 6 months. The rest ate the equivalent of a slice of bread, just 16 grams of carbohydrates per month.
People with diabetes or prediabetes who ate less than 60 mg of carbohydrate per day for six months had lower hemoglobin A1c levels than those who adhered to a normal diet.
By the end of the study, people in the low-carbohydrate group had hemoglobin A1c, or the amount of glucose (sugar) in their blood, decreased by 0.19 percent to 0.33 percent.
Simply switching to a very low-carbohydrate diet may be enough to prevent prediabetics from deteriorating A1c levels and avoiding a diagnosis of diabetes.
In the group that maintained a normal diet, A1c levels dropped by only about 0.02 to 0.10 percent.
People in the low-carbohydrate group had 0.23% lower A1c levels than those in the group who maintained a normal diet.
Lead author Dr. Kirsten Dorans, assistant professor of epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, called these findings “albeit modest, of clinical relevance.”
“The key message is that maintaining a low-carbohydrate diet may help prevent and treat type 2 diabetes, but more research is needed.”
The findings of this study are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
About 37 million Americans have diabetes, with type 2 diabetes accounting for 90%.
Meanwhile, an estimated 96 million US adults have prediabetes.
Risk factors for developing diabetes include being overweight, having a family history of diabetes, not maintaining an active lifestyle, and consuming large amounts of alcohol and fat.
People over the age of 35 and those who are African American, Native American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander are predisposed to type 2 diabetes.
Diabetics are encouraged by health professionals to maintain a low-carbohydrate diet. It helps diabetics better manage blood sugar, reduce the need for medications, and reduce the risk of diabetes complications such as heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and nerve damage. .
The American Diabetes Association officially recommends that people with diabetes and prediabetes follow a low-carbohydrate, low-glycemic index, high-protein diet to manage blood sugar levels.
While the study doesn’t say that diet alone can control blood sugar levels, Dr. Dorrance says it opens the door to further research.
Dr. Dorans said:
“Future studies could be done to see if this dietary approach could be an alternative approach to type 2 diabetes prevention,” she added.
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