High-Protein/Low-Carbohydrate Diet and Type 1 Diabetes

Compared with a 'standard' or 'reference' diet and a Mediterranean style diet (MED), a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet (HPD) plan may have a positive impact on glycaemic control in patients with Type 1 diabetes (T1D), suggests findings from a recently published research in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. The research has affirmed that during the high‐protein/low‐carbohydrate diet (HPD), patients spent a shorter time in hypoglycaemia and exhibited lower glycaemic variability.

The ideal dietary approach for patients with T1D diabetes, however, remains controversial, and the optimal macronutrient composition of the diet continues to be ambiguous. Most current guidelines do not generally distinguish between T1D and type 2 diabetes with regards to diet composition, and an individualized eating plan, based on a variety of dietary patterns that are acceptable for the management of diabetes, such as the Mediterranean style diet or a low‐carbohydrate diet is recommended.

Researchers undertook the current study to compare the effects of three different but isocaloric dietary patterns, high‐protein/low‐carbohydrate (HPD) with 20% of calories as carbohydrates, Mediterranean/low glycaemic index (MED) with 40% carbohydrates, and a reference diet (REF) with 50% carbohydrates, in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The study design consisted of a randomized crossover study, 15 patients with T1D were assigned to the three dietary patterns for three separate weeks, with 7‐day washout periods in between. Continuous glucose monitoring was applied during the intervention periods. The primary outcome was glycaemic control, as measured by the percentage of time patients spent within the euglycaemic range (TIR70–140 mg/dl). Other key glycaemic metrics were also investigated as secondary outcomes.

Data Analysis Highlights

• TIR70–140 was not statistically different between HPD, MED and REF (p = .105). Pairwise analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between HPD and REF at the .05 level, which was not retained after applying Bonferroni correction (54.87% ± 14.11% vs. 48.33% ± 13.72%; p = .018).
• During the HPD period, 11 out of 15 participants spent more time within TIR70–140 compared with either the REF or MED. The HPD performed significantly better than the REF in terms of TIR70–180 (74.33% ± 12.85% vs. 67.53% ± 12.73%; p = .012), glycaemic variability (coefficient of variation: 36.18% ± 9.30% vs. 41.48% ± 8.69%; p = .016) and time spent in the hypoglycaemic range (TBR70 mg/dl; median: 12, IQR: 16 vs. median: 14, IQR: 20; p = .007), whereas no statistically significant differences were observed between MED and HPD or REF.

The researchers concluded that compared with REF and MED, a high-protein diet plan may have a positive impact on blood sugar control in patients with T1D. During the high-protein diet plan (HPD), patients spent a shorter time in hypoglycaemia and exhibited lower blood sugar variability.

Primary source: Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism

For full article follow the link: https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.14390