A low carbohydrate Mediterranean diet improves cardiovascular risk factors and diabetes control among overweight patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a 1-year prospective randomized intervention study.

Description

This study was conducted to compare the effects of the 2003 American Diabetic Association (ADA) diet, a low carbohydrate Mediterranean (LCM) diet, and a traditional Mediterranean (TM) diet on cardiometabolic risk markers in a one-year study. The study sample included 259 overweight diabetic patients who were randomly assigned to one of the three diets. The authors found that a community-based dietary intervention reduced body mass index, HbA1c, LDL and triglyceride levels in overweight patients with type 2 diabetes on all three diets. The LCM group had improved cardiovascular risk factors such as HbA1c, triglycerides and HDL levels compared to either ADA or the TM groups. Thus, these results suggest that the low carbohydrate Mediterranean diet may be quite relevant for the management of overweight patients with type 2 diabetes.