Research
Macro partitioning
Very low carbohydrate (VLC) diets offer short-term advantages in reducing medication use and lowering HbA1c in people with type 2 diabetes, but long-term evidence is limited to 12 months.
If you have type 2 diabetes, a very low carbohydrate diet can help lower your blood sugar and reduce medication needs in the short term (up to 12 months). However, long-term data is scarce, so consider this a short-term tool rather than a lifelong guarantee.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
In type 2 diabetes very low carbohydrate diets are strongly recommended by some groups but the long term evidence is very limited and no published trial is longer than 12 mo. Although obesity is strongly genetically based the microbiome may play a small role but human evidence is currently very limited.
Why this rating
Based on limited long-term evidence (max 12 months).
Source
Assessing the evidence for weight loss strategies in people with and without type 2 diabetes
Peter Clifton · World Journal of Diabetes · 2017
DOI 10.4239/wjd.v8.i10.440
narrative_reviewCited 14×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Very low calorie diets (VLCD) produce superior short-term weight loss (approx. 4 kg more than behavioral programs) and modest long-term benefits (1.3-1.4 kg) compared to standard behavioral weight loss programs, though long-term maintenance requires adjunctive support.Good
- High protein diets (increasing protein by >5% of energy) provide a modest but statistically significant advantage in fat mass loss and triglyceride reduction compared to normal protein diets, with a small effect on total weight loss.Good
- Intermittent energy restriction (including alternate day fasting) produces weight loss similar to daily continuous energy restriction over 3-6 months, with no proven metabolic benefit beyond the weight loss itself.Moderate
Related findings · Macro partitioning
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- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
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