Hormonal
Medication reduction is a prominent and immediate benefit of VLCKD, often occurring before significant weight loss or A1c improvement is sustained, and may blunt the observed A1c response in long-term studies.
If you have Type 2 Diabetes, starting a very low-carb diet (<50g carbs/day) often leads to a rapid need to reduce or stop diabetes medications, sometimes before you lose much weight. This is a good thing, but it requires close monitoring by your doctor to avoid hypoglycemia. Do not stop your medications on your own; work with your provider to adjust doses as your blood sugar improves.
Medication reductions are a prominent benefit of very low carbohydrate eating patterns. A majority of patients in three to six month VLCKD studies by Yancy and Westman were able to either eliminate or reduce their diabetes medications. ... Though HbA1c reductions were often modest in studies more than a year in duration, many of these studies still demonstrated significant reductions in insulin and diabetes medication requirements, and it is likely that medication reduction blunted the A1c response.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple RCTs cited (Yancy, Westman, Saslow) showing medication reductions.
Source
Adherence to Low-Carbohydrate Diets in Patients with Diabetes: A Narrative Review
Nitya Kumar et al. · Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) · 2022
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