Energy balance
Low carbohydrate diets produce short-term improvements in glycemic control, weight loss, and cardiovascular risk factors in people with type 2 diabetes, but these benefits are not sustained over the longer term and do not show superiority over higher carbohydrate intakes.
If you have type 2 diabetes, a low carbohydrate diet can help you lose weight and improve blood sugar control in the first few months. However, after a year, these benefits are generally no better than those achieved by other healthy diets that focus on weight loss. Therefore, do not view low carbohydrate as a superior 'cure' or default treatment; choose the dietary pattern you can sustain best that results in weight loss and improved metabolic markers.
Recent studies suggest that low carbohydrate diets appear to be safe and effective over the short term, but show no statistical differences from control diets with higher carbohydrate content and cannot be recommended as the default treatment for people with type 2 diabetes.
Why this rating
Based on a narrative review of 8 heterogeneous RCTs (2010-2015); while RCTs are high quality, the narrative synthesis and heterogeneity limit the strength of the pooled conclusion.
Source
Low Carbohydrate Diets and Type 2 Diabetes: What is the Latest Evidence?
Pamela Dyson · Diabetes Therapy · 2015
DOI 10.1007/s13300-015-0136-9
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