There has been interest in the effect of various types and amounts of
dietary carbohydrates and
proteins on
blood glucose. On the basis of our previous data, we designed a high-
protein/low-
carbohydrate, weight-maintaining, nonketogenic diet. Its effect on
glucose control in people with untreated
type 2 diabetes was determined. We refer to this as a low-biologically-available-
glucose (LoBAG) diet. Eight men were studied using a randomized 5-week crossover design with a 5-week washout period. The
carbohydrate:
protein:fat ratio of the control diet was 55:15:30. The test diet ratio was 20:30:50. Plasma and urinary
beta-hydroxybutyrate were similar on both diets. The mean 24-h integrated serum
glucose at the end of the control and LoBAG diets was 198 and 126 mg/dl, respectively. The percentage of
glycohemoglobin was 9.8 +/- 0.5 and 7.6 +/- 0.3, respectively. It was still decreasing at the end of the LoBAG diet. Thus, the final calculated
glycohemoglobin was estimated to be approximately 6.3-5.4%. Serum
insulin was decreased, and plasma
glucagon was increased. Serum
cholesterol was unchanged. Thus, a LoBAG diet ingested for 5 weeks dramatically reduced the circulating
glucose concentration in people with untreated
type 2 diabetes. Potentially, this could be a patient-empowering way to ameliorate
hyperglycemia without pharmacological intervention. The long-term effects of such a diet remain to be determined.