ADA Approves Low-Carb Diets
Well, folks, it's actually happened. Just as I reported a month ago, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has opened the door to low-carb diets as a tool to help people with diabetes and pre-diabetes (and, by extension, people who are insulin resistant).
The Good News: For weight control, the ADA has put low-carb diets on a par with the more "traditional" (at least for the last 30 years) weight loss recommendations of low fat/high carb diets. The new guidelines basically state that whichever diet the individual finds it easiest to follow has their OK. (Note that prior to the great low-fat craze of the 1970s, cutting sugar and starches was commonly recommended for weight loss.) They also cite research which shows improved triglycerides and HDL cholesterol with low-carb diets.
To be on the safe side, they recommend that blood lipids, kidney function, and medication levels should be monitored. This is a good thing, because if current research is to be believed, this monitoring will continue to prove the positive benefits of carbohydrate reduction in all these areas.
The Bad News: The ADA still doesn't recommend low-carb diets for blood glucose control, even though the new guidelines say, "dietary carbohydrate is the major determinant of postprandial [after meal] glucose levels". Why don't they recommend cutting carbs? Because although "low carbohydrate diets might seem to be the logical approach...foods that contain carbohydate are important sources of energy, fiber, vitamins, and minerals and are important in dietary palatability." They also say that long-term safety issues, "need further research."
My Take: I'm very happy that some of the research into low carb diets has been recognized by the ADA. But I don't quite understand why they think the perceived lack of nutrients is OK for weight loss but not OK for blood glucose control. In any case, I've been analyzing the nutrients in low-carb menus for quite some time, and I don't find it difficult to construct menus that have the needed nutrients, including fiber. One of the main functions of fat is to provide energy, so that certainly doesn't need to be a problem. And even without the growing body of modern research showing that low-carb diets are safe, we have the diets of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, many of which were quite low in carbohydrate. That's long-term enough for me!
What Others Are Saying: Check out these reports and commentaries:
- Dr. Mary Vernon explains how the metabolic effects of low-carb diets are more important than weight loss in her blog post: Has the American Diabetes Association Sparked Yet Another Atkins Revolution?
- Adam Campbell of Men's Health writes Apparently, Hell Just Froze Over, where he talks about his past tanglings with the ADA over just this issue.
- Jimmy Moore: New 2008 ADA Recommendations Partially Acknowledge Low-Carb Diets
- Washington Post: Diabetes Group Backs Low-Carb Diets
- American Diabetes Association Press Release
The American Diabetes Association. "Nutrition Recommendations and Interventions for Diabetes." Diabetes Care 31.1 (2008):S61-S78.
Photo © Richard Cano
Comments
‘Why don’t they recommend cutting carbs? Because although “low carbohydrate diets might seem to be the logical approach…foods that contain carbohydate are important sources of energy, fiber, vitamins, and minerals and are important in dietary palatability.” ‘
I agree with this statement by the ADA. There really ARE a lot of carbohydrate food sources that are important for energy, fiber, vitamins, etc. But carb reduction can still happen in your diet and still eat the best carbs (low in actual carb content) that will supply these nutrients.
I don’t know why people always look at the extemes for answers. There are workable, practical solutions!
Yes. The thing is, it actually turns out that foods that are high in starches (bread and pasta) are low in nutrient density. Low-starch veggies, which are at the base of my food pyramid, tend to have very high nutrient concentrations. That is why low-carb diets can so easily be high in nutrients.