Study: Low Carb Diets are Better for Diabetes Prevention
A new study reveals some news about low carb dieting which is both encouraging and not surprising.
A diet low in carbohydrates but high in animal fat and protein doesn’t seem to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in women, a new study claims.
“One study is never enough to change a recommendation, but this study is interesting in that it shows that a low-fat diet is no better than a low-carbohydrate diet in preventing type 2 diabetes,” said Thomas Halton, lead author of a study in the current issue of theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “The one diet that did seem to show a protective effect was a vegetable-based, low-carb diet which consisted of higher amounts of vegetable fat and vegetable protein, and lower amounts of carbohydrate.”
The findings, Halton added, were a bit surprising in that most doctors and nutritionists recommend a low-fat diet to prevent type 2 diabetes. “This study showed that a low-fat diet didn’t really prevent type 2 diabetes in our cohort when compared to a low-carb diet. I was also surprised that total carbohydrate consumption was associated with type 2 diabetes, and that the relative risk for the glycemic load was so high.”
The article continues and points out that the low carb diet was just that, “low carb.” It was not the Atkins diet which has been controversial due to its stringent exclusion of vital carbohydrates — fruits and vegetables — and excessive amounts of animal fats and protein content that goes far beyond what the body requires.
While low-fat, high-carb diets are often recommended, the long-term effects of such a regimen are not known.
People who reduce their carb intake generally take in more total and saturated fat and less whole grains, cereal fiber, fruit and vegetables, which can heighten the risk of type 2 diabetes.
For this study, Halton and his colleagues examined the association between low-carb diets and the risk of diabetes among 85,059 women participating in the Nurse’s Health Study. The data included 20 years of follow-up.
Women were ranked according to what they ate. “We calculated a low-carbohydrate diet score based on the women’s percent consumption of fat, protein and carbohydrate,” Halton explained. “A higher score reflected a higher intake of fat and protein and a lower intake of carbohydrate. Therefore, the higher a woman’s score, the more closely she followed a low carb-diet, and the lower her score, the more closely she followed a low-fat diet.”
Women with a higher score did not have a heightened risk of diabetes. In fact, they seemed to have a small decreased risk when they derived their fat and protein from vegetable rather than animal sources.