Which diet is better for weight loss and diabetes control, low carbohydrate or low fat?

A low-carbohydrate diet can help people with diabetes lose weight better and control their blood sugar
compared to a low-fat diet.

Patients achieved better weight loss and glycemic control
at six months of the intervention compared to a high-carbohydrate, low-fat, unrestricted diet.
This is based on a randomized controlled trial of more than 100 people with type 2 diabetes
.
These changes did not persist after 3 months of the intervention, suggesting that long-term dietary changes are needed to maintain meaningful health benefits
.
The findings were published Dec.
13 in
Annals of Internal Medicine.

More than 480 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes
.
According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 37 million people in the United States alone have diabetes
.
More than half of people with diabetes also have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition that can progress to cirrhosis and impairs liver function
.
Previous studies have shown that weight loss can improve diabetes and NAFLD control, and that limiting carbohydrate intake can improve blood sugar level control
.

Scientists at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark, randomly assigned 165 people with type 2 diabetes to either a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet or a high-carbohydrate, low-fat (HCLF) diet group for 6 months
.
Participants in both groups were asked to consume calories equal to their energy expenditure
.
Patients on a low-carbohydrate diet are instructed to consume no more than 20% of their carbohydrate calories, but they can consume 50-60% of calories from fat and 20-30% from protein
.
Participants on a low-fat diet were asked to consume about half of their calories from carbohydrates, with the other half divided equally between fat and protein
.

The authors found that people on a low-carb diet lost 0.
59 percent less glycosylated hemoglobin than those on a low-fat diet and also lost 3.
8 kilograms (8.
4 pounds) more body weight
than those on a low-fat diet.
Those on a low-carb diet also lost more body fat and shortened their waist circumference
.
Both groups had higher HDL cholesterol and lower triglycerides
at 6 months.

However, after 3 months of intervention, the changes did not persist, suggesting that dietary changes need to be sustained for a long time to maintain the effect
.
The livers in the low-carb group were not affected by high fat intake: The researchers found no difference
in liver fat mass or inflammation between the two groups.

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