Low-Fat Diet Keeps Diabetes At Bay

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.Individuals who consume a low-fat diet have a lower risk for developing diabetes, according to a new study published the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

For the study, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham placed 69 healthy, non-diabetic overweight adults who were at risk for the disease on a diet with modest reductions in either fat or carbohydrate for eight weeks. The lower fat group received a diet comprised of 27 percent fat and 55 percent carbohydrate; the lower carbohydrate groups diet was 39 percent fat and 43 percent carbohydrate.

At eight weeks, the group on the lower fat diet had significantly higher insulin secretion and better glucose tolerance and tended to have higher insulin sensitivity," said Barbara Gower, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at UAB and lead author of the study. These improvements indicate a decreased risk for diabetes."

Blacks on the lower fat diet showed a stronger difference in insulin secretion compared to the lower carbohydrate group, indicating that diet might be an important variable for controlling diabetes risk in that population.

The findings suggest individuals trying to minimize risk for diabetes over the long term might consider limiting their daily consumption of fat at around 27 percent of their diet.