High-fat, low-carbohydrate diets may be best for people with diabetes, according to a small Linköping University study. Researchers enlisted 61 adults with type 2 diabetes who were randomly assigned to eat either a high-carb diet composed of 50 percent to 60 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fat, and 10 percent to 15 percent protein, or a high-fat diet composed of 20 percent carbohydrates, 50 percent fat, and 30 percent protein. Although both diets helped participants lose an average of nine pounds over two years, those in the low-carb/high-fat group improved their blood glucose, decreased their insulin levels, and increased their HDL or good cholesterol at the six-month follow up while the high-carb group did not show improvements in blood glucose or blood fats. “You could ask yourself if it really is good to recommend a low-fat diet to patients with diabetes, if despite their weight loss they get neither better lipoproteins nor blood glucose levels,” says study author Fredrik Nyström. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends a diet closer to the diet used by the high carbohydrates group, with 45 percent to 65 percent of calories from carbohydrates, 20 percent to 30 percent from fat, and 10 percent to 35 percent from protein. The American Diabetes Association endorses these recommendations for people with type 2 diabetes.
