Diet deals with ado diabetes

Researchers at the Medical university of South Carolina make the point that although the rate of type 2 diabetes has increased significantly among adolescents, there are few studies comparing the relative merits of diet, exercise, insulin, and other drug therapies in treating such patients.

Steven Willi and colleagues evaluated the ability of a ketogenic, very low-calorie diet to reduce weight, reduce high blood sugar levels, and decrease the dependence on anti-diabetes medications in 20 obese adolescents, 5 males and 15 females, with type 2 diabetes.

The diet consisted of about 100 g of protein and less than 30 g each of fat and carbohydrate per day, amounting to about 680-800 calories in the form of lean meat and vegetables, as well as fluids and supplemental salt. Mean daily blood glucose levels decreased from 162 to 100 mg/dl within three days of beginning the diet and all but one patient managed to discontinue all anti-diabetic therapy.

The scientists report that after voluntarily stopping the diet after an average of 60 days, participants' average weight loss was 25 lb (9.3 per cent of total body weight) and average body weight remained significantly reduced two years later. This amounted to a 5.4 per cent reduction, compared with a 3.7 per cent increase in an age-matched control group.

"The very low-calorie diet has the potential to improve diabetes control over the short term and perhaps empower diabetic individuals over the long term,"​ conclude the authors.

Full findings of the study​ are published in Diabetes Care​ (2004) 27, 348-353.