Hormonal
Low-carbohydrate diets significantly improve glycemic control (HbA1c and FPG) and lipid profiles (reduced triglycerides, increased HDL) in overweight or obese patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus compared to control diets.
If you have Type 2 Diabetes and are overweight, reducing your carbohydrate intake to under 26% of your daily calories can significantly lower your HbA1c and fasting blood sugar. It also improves your blood fat profile by lowering triglycerides and raising good HDL cholesterol, without negatively affecting your LDL. You should work with your doctor to adjust diabetes medications (like insulin) to avoid low blood sugar as you start this diet.
Seventeen RCTs, encompassing 1,197 participants, demonstrated that low-carbohydrate diets significantly improved HbA1c levels and fasting plasma glucose... They also reduced triglycerides and increased HDL cholesterol... without affecting LDL and total cholesterol.
Why this rating
Meta-analysis of 17 RCTs with 1,197 participants, though heterogeneity was noted in weight outcomes.
Source
The effects of low-carbohydrate diet on glucose and lipid metabolism in overweight or obese patients with T2DM: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Wende Tian et al. · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2025
DOI 10.3389/fnut.2024.1516086
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