A research team has found that a low-glycemic diet does much better at managing glycemic control for Type ll diabetes than the “traditional” high fiber diet.

The low-glycemic diet is one high in beans, lentils and breads made with flaxseeds and the high fiber diet includes foods based on whole grain breads and breakfast cereals which are often loaded with extra sugar

Half of a group of 84 volunteers with with obesity and type 2 diabetes were put on the very-low carb Atkins Induction Phase Diet and the other half were put on a low-glycemic, reduced calorie diet. After 6 months, there was improvement in both groups in glycemic control. But the Atkins Induction group improved the most. This shows us that when it comes to controlling blood sugar, the Atkins Induction phase program does the better job.

Since red blood cells (Hemoglobin A1c) basically live for about 3 months before dying, when sugar sticks to these cells it’s possible to tell just how much sugar has been around for the past three months giving us a much more realistic reading of the overall effectiveness of blood sugar control.

Both these diets- the Atkins Induction and the low-glycemic- improved Hemoglobin A1c as well as fasting glucose, fasting insulin and even weight loss. But the Atkins Induction diet did slightly better on all four counts.

Both groups were also able to reduce their diabetic medication. But in patients taking insulin, the effects of the Atkins Induction diet were really quite powerful.

Participants taking from 40-90 units of insulin before the study were able to eliminate their insulin use after starting the Atkins Induction Diet, sometimes so quickly that the study researchers had to issue the warning that subjects with type 2 diabetes who are unable to adjust their own medication shouldn’t make these dietary changes without close medical supervision!

This study does not mean that an Induction diet is preferable to a low-glycemic diet, which in other studies has been shown to be very useful for glycemic control. No, “a low-carbohydrate, (Atkins Induction) diet combines two approaches that, on their own, improve blood glucose control: weight loss and a reduced glycemic index diet”, wrote the researchers.

Because low-glycemic diets typically contain from 40-60% of calories from carbohydrate, it’s possible that the beneficial effect of low-glycemic diets could be augmented even further by the reduction of the absolute amount of carbs- or by a reduction in calories”, said Dr. Westman, head of the research team.

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