medwireNews: Results of a randomized trial suggest that patients with type 2 diabetes experience metabolic benefits from a hypocaloric diet regardless of whether it is low in fat or low in carbohydrate content.
Increased fat and carbohydrate consumption are thought to trigger a complex network linking together type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Renate Luzia Barbosa Yañez (German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Rehbrücke) told delegates at the EASD annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal.
The researchers found that the 27 participants who were randomly assigned to a very-low-carbohydrate diet (4–10% of the total energy intake from carbohydrates) and the 28 patients given a low-fat diet (<30% energy intake from fat) all experienced significant reductions in body weight, blood lipids, and glycated hemoglobin levels from baseline to week 3.
However, only participants in the low-fat group experienced a significant decrease in visceral adipose tissue over the study period.
These findings suggest that “caloric restriction primarily determines the outcomes” of the dietary intervention, but “patients may have a greater benefit from following a low-fat diet,” concluded Barbosa Yañez.
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2017 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group
See also: