Metabolic Health
A new study confirms what researchers have long known: low-carb breakfasts can reduce blood sugar spikes in people with type 2 diabetes. But the real key to managing the disease lies in weight loss and restoring metabolic health.
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Some things age quite slowly...
Because although low carb has shown promising approaches for high blood sugar – that is, (pre-)diabetes – for nearly decades now, researchers comment on the findings of their own new work on the topic as if they had just found the Holy Grail.
For instance, one recent study is commented on as follows [source no longer available]:
"Treatment strategies that can help reduce glucose fluctuations after meals and rapid glucose swings are crucial for treating this disease," she adds. "We found that we can limit hyperglycemic fluctuations when the first meal of the day is low in carbohydrates and contains more protein and fat."
Aha! So this is the exciting novelty: if you have blood sugar problems, you absolutely should eat the first meal of the day high in protein and fat. According to the findings of this new study, in which 121 participants with type 2 diabetes either started the day with a high-carbohydrate or low-carbohydrate breakfast – both 450 kcal each.
The low-carbohydrate breakfast was associated with a slight reduction in blood sugar levels, the blood sugar "roller coasters" were smaller, and some were even able to reduce the dose of their blood sugar medication. The downside is – as always – in the fine print:
"Dr. Oliveira notes that there were (...) no significant differences between the low-carbohydrate and the other group regarding weight, body mass index, or waist circumference."
In short: this low-carb breakfast intervention is pointless. Because type 2 diabetes is called "affluence diabetes" for a reason – it arises primarily from too much body fat or a too-dominant fat metabolism, which occurs because too much energy in the form of (free) fatty acids circulates in the blood and thus switches off carbohydrate metabolism (keyword: Randle cycle).
There are exactly two key points for this condition:
These two key points open up a nice range of possibilities. For instance, you could create a caloric deficit through modest carbohydrate reduction, which would accomplish two things at once – that is: reduce the load on carbohydrate metabolism and burn excess fat.
If you eat hypocalorically – that is, in an energy deficit – you burn body fat, which is why, for example, a severely calorie-restricted "oat cure" [source no longer available] (and without low carb) can also work. In general, severely calorie-restricted diets are a proven remedy for type 2 diabetes (cf. Dambha-Miller et al. 2019 [source no longer available]).
But none of this is new knowledge. We've discussed this in our blog back and forth for many, many years. All the more surprising is it that researchers still seem to be going in circles.
You can certainly confirm findings with lots of research money over and over and over again and publish a nice lay-person news story each time. But you could also just make a point and move on to something else.
You should see it the same way. In other topics too. How does that work? For example: don't read the x-th SPIEGEL article about the "vitamin lie." There. Is. Nothing. New. In. It. But you'll certainly be emotionalized afterward.
Infobesity. For the metabolic disease type 2 diabetes, there's certainly also an appropriate psychological counterpart for those who stuff themselves with low-quality info calories. Conversely, an "info diet" often creates an intoxicating peace of mind – mental health.
You should know this. More on these topics as always [source no longer available].
