Research

Energy balance

In obese type II diabetic patients, greater caloric restriction (400 kcal/day) improves fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity more than moderate restriction (1,000 kcal/day) when weight loss is held constant.

For obese type II diabetics, stricter caloric restriction (e.g., 400 kcal/day) provides superior improvements in blood sugar and insulin sensitivity compared to moderate restriction (1,000 kcal/day), even if the amount of weight lost is the same. This suggests that the act of restricting calories has metabolic benefits beyond just losing weight.

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Subjects in the 1,674-kJ (400-calorie) group had significantly greater improvements in both glycemic control and insulin sensitivity after loss of 11% of body weight than did subjects in the 4,185-kJ (1,000-calorie) group.
Rena R. Wing et al. · Diabetes Care · 1994

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with clear isolation of variables, though limited to a specific diabetic population.

Source

Caloric Restriction Per Se Is a Significant Factor in Improvements in Glycemic Control and Insulin Sensitivity During Weight Loss in Obese NIDDM Patients

Rena R. Wing et al. · Diabetes Care · 1994

DOI 10.2337/diacare.17.1.30

rct · n=93Cited 295×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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