The effect of periodic ketogenic diet on newly diagnosed overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Sumei Li, Guoxin Lin, Jinxing Chen, Zhenxin Chen, Feipeng Xu, Feng Zhu, Jintian Zhang, Shouping Yuan

Journal: BMC endocrine disorders 2022;22(1):34

PMID: 35115003

Free Full Text on BioMed Central View on PubMed

Plain Language Summary

Currently, the ketogenic diet is gaining popularity in managing Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Ketogenic diets replace carbohydrates with fat and include limited carbohydrates and adequate protein. This randomised controlled trial evaluated the effects of the 12-week ketogenic diet on sixty overweight or obese T2D patients. Both the ketogenic and control diabetes diet groups achieved significant reductions in weight, body mass index, waist circumference, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, and HbA1c. However, the ketogenic group showed significantly greater reductions in body mass, blood lipids, and blood glucose than the control group. In the ketogenic diet group, serum uric acid levels were higher than those in the control diet group. It was found that the control diet group adhered to the diet for a longer period than the ketogenic diet group, whose willingness to adhere to the diet long-term was weaker. More robust long-term studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of a ketogenic diet. In this study, more patients who followed the ketogenic diet experienced hypoglycaemic events during the first four weeks. Healthcare providers should exercise caution when recommending a short term therapeutic ketogenic diet.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The ketogenic diet (KD) is characterized by fat as a substitute of carbohydrates for the primary energy source. There is a large number of overweight or obese people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), while this study aims to observe periodic ketogenic diet for effect on overweight or obese patients newly diagnosed as T2DM.

METHODS

A total of 60 overweight or obese patients newly diagnosed as T2DM were randomized into two groups: KD group, which was given ketogenic diet, and control group, which was given routine diet for diabetes, 30 cases in each group. Both dietary patterns lasted 12 weeks, and during the period, the blood glucose, blood lipid, body weight, insulin, and uric acid before and after intervention, as well as the significance for relevant changes, were observed.

RESULTS

For both groups, the weight, BMI(body mass index), Waist, TG (triglyceride), TC(cholesterol), LDL (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), HDL (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), FBG (fasting glucose), FINS (fasting insulin), HbA1c (glycosylated hemoglobin) were decreased after intervention (P < 0.05), while the decrease rates in the KD group was more significant than the control group. However, UA(serum uric acid) in the KD group showed an upward trend, while in the control group was not changed significantly (P > 0.05).The willingness to adhere to the ketogenic diet over the long term was weaker than to the routine diet for diabetes.

CONCLUSION

Among the overweight or obese patients newly diagnosed as type 2 diabetes mellitus, periodic ketogenic diet can not only control the body weight, but also control blood glucose and lipid, but long-term persistence is difficult.

Address: Department o f Endocrinology, Teaching Hospital, The First Hospital of Putian, Fujian Medical University, Putian, Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. [email protected].; Department o f Endocrinology, Teaching Hospital, The First Hospital of Putian, Fujian Medical University, Putian, Fujian Province, People's Republic of China.; Department of Pathology, Putian University, Medical University, Fujian, China.

DOI: 10.1186/s12902-022-00947-2