Diabetics do not need to follow calorie restrictions every day, study shows
Some good news for diabetics.
Calorie restriction two days per week is almost as good as calorie restriction every day for controlling blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Conventional weight-loss diets with daily calorie restriction are hard to stick with over time. Intermittent calorie restriction diets can be effective for weight loss. A new study examined the long-term effects of a two-day intermittent calorie restriction diet with a diet of continuous calorie restriction over 12 months for patients with type 2 diabetes.
A total of 137 patients with type 2 diabetes were assigned to 1 of 2 diets between April 2015 and September 2017
The researchers found average change in hemoglobin A1c after a year was comparable between the two diets. HbA1c is the three month average of blood sugar level.
“A 2-day intermittent energy restriction diet is comparable to a continuous energy restriction diet for improvements in glycemic control”
In the article published in JAMA, the researchers wrote: “To our knowledge, this is the first randomized clinical trial of this duration comparing intermittent energy restriction with continuous energy restriction in patients with type 2 diabetes. The results demonstrated that a 2-day intermittent energy restriction diet is comparable to a continuous energy restriction diet for improvements in glycemic control, confirming our pilot data.”
Intermittent energy restriction is safe for people who have either diet-controlled type 2 diabetes or are using medication that is not likely to cause hypoglycemia.
