Low-carb diet tied to lower mortality risk in patients with type 2 diabetes: Study

The study led to the following findings:

• Among 10,101 incident type 2 diabetes cases contributing 139,407 person-years during follow-up, 4,595 deaths were documented, of which 1,389 cases were attributed to CVD (cardiovascular disease) and 881 to cancer.
• The pooled multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of total mortality per 10-point increment of postdiagnosis LCDS were 0.87 for TLCDS, 0.76 for VLCDS, and 0.78 for HLCDS.
• HLCDS and VLCDS were also associated with significantly lower CVD and cancer mortality.
• Each 10-point increase of VLCDS, TLCDS, and HLCDS from prediagnosis to postdiagnosis period was linked with 25%, 12%, and 25% lower total mortality, respectively.
• No significant associations were observed between ALCDS and ULCDS.

"For low-carbohydrate diets that stressed macronutrient intake from healthy plant-based foods, the inverse associations were stronger, and these LCDs were also linked with significantly lower CVD and cancer mortality," the team added. "Low-carbohydrate diets that emphasized animal fat or protein were not notably associated with any study outcomes."

To conclude, greater adherence to LCD patterns among people with type 2 diabetes is significantly associated with lower cancer, cardiovascular, and overall mortality. When combined with other healthy lifestyle choices, an amplification in risk reduction was observed.

Reference:

Yang Hu, Gang Liu, Edward Yu, Biqi Wang, Clemens Wittenbecher, JoAnn E. Manson, Eric B. Rimm, Liming Liang, Kathryn Rexrode, Walter C. Willett, Frank B. Hu, Qi Sun; Low-Carbohydrate Diet Scores and Mortality Among Adults With Incident Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care 2023; dc222310. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-2310