Two diets with different haemoglobin A1c and antiglycaemic medication effects despite similar weight loss in type 2 diabetes
Open accessAbstract
We analysed participants with type 2 diabetes (n = 46) within a larger weight loss trial (n = 146) who were randomized to 48 weeks of a low‐carbohydrate diet ( LCD ; n = 22) or a low‐fat diet + orlistat ( LFD + O; n = 24). At baseline, mean body mass index ( BMI ) was 39.5 kg/m 2 (s.d. 6.5) and haemoglobin A1c ( HbA1c ) 7.6% (s.d. 1.3). Although the interventions reduced BMI similarly ( LCD −2.4 kg/m 2 ; LFD + O −2.7 kg/m 2 , p = 0.7), LCD led to a relative improvement in HbA1c: −0.7% in LCD versus +0.2% in LFD + O [difference −0.8%, 95% confidence interval ( CI ) = −1.6, −0.02; p = 0.045]. LCD also led to a greater reduction in antiglycaemic medications using a novel medication effect score ( MES ) based on medication potency and total daily dose; 70.6% of LCD versus 30.4% LFD + O decreased their MES by ≥50% (p = 0.01). Lowering dietary carbohydrate intake demonstrated benefits on glycaemic control beyond its weight loss effects, while at the same time lowering antiglycaemic medication requirements.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Reduced-carbohydrate diets can produce greater reductions in A1C and body weight compared with low-fat diets in the short term of about 3 to 6 months, but benefits equilibrate at 1 to 2 years when people on both diets achieve similar A1C, blood pressure, and lipid levels.
“Several systematic reviews agree that reduced-carbohydrate diets can produce greater reductions in A1C and body weight compared with low-fat diets in the short term (~3 to 6 months); however, benefits equilibrate at 1 to 2 years when persons on both diets achieve similar A1C, BP, and lipid levels.704,707–709”
From American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Clinical Practice Guideline: Developing a Diabetes Mellitus Comprehensive Care Plan-2022 Update. (2022) · cites this paper as [708]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 1 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLow-carbohydrate diets reducing carbohydrates to 26% to 46% of daily calories and very low-carbohydrate diets restricting carbohydrates to 20 to 50 grams per day sufficient to induce ketosis are both safe for people with type 2 diabetes.
“Low-carbohydrate diets that reduce carbohydrates to 26% to 46% of daily calories and very lowecarbohydrate diets that restrict carbohydrates to 20 to 50 grams per day sufficient to induce ketosis are both safe for persons with T2D.707–714,929,930”
From American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Clinical Practice Guideline: Developing a Diabetes Mellitus Comprehensive Care Plan-2022 Update. (2022) · cites this paper as [708]
The Methods (page unavailable) describe a low-carbohydrate intervention initially limited to ≤20 g/day in adults with type 2 diabetes, with medication adjustments to prevent hypoglycemia. The Results (page unavailable) report no significant between-group differences in kidney measures or serum lipids. The paper does not establish that both diet categories are safe, specify a 26%–46% carbohydrate diet, or show that the intervention induced ketosis. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA number of studies documented benefits of lower-carbohydrate diets on measures of metabolic health and medication use in patients with type 2 diabetes.
“A number of studies documented the benefits of lower-carbohydrate diets on measures of metabolic health and medication use in patients with T2D (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11) and for weight loss and improved metabolic health in healthy individuals (12).”
From A Lower-Carbohydrate, Higher-Fat Diet Reduces Abdominal and Intermuscular Fat and Increases Insulin Sensitivity in Adults at Risk of Type 2 Diabetes (2015) · cites this paper as [6]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 13 · Cited by 119
- Authors
- Mayer, S. B., Jeffreys, A. S., Olsen, M. K., McDuffie, J. R., Feinglos, M. N., & Yancy, W. S.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
- Veterans Health Administration (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mayer, S. B.
- Venue
- Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-08-29
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 90-93
- ISSN
- 1462-8902 (ISSN-L)
- 1463-1326
- PMC
- PMC3867584
- OpenAlex
- W2088626194
- Cited by
- 119
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 3.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (ST32DK007012-35, T32DK007012)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Diet and metabolism studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Treatment and Management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
- Keywords
- type 2 diabetes, low-carbohydrate diet, low-fat diet, orlistat, weight loss, HbA1c, glycemic control, carbohydrate intake, obesity
- MeSH terms
- Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Diet, Reducing, Female, Glycated Hemoglobin, Humans, Hypoglycemic Agents, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Compliance, Weight Loss, Body Mass Index, Treatment Outcome, Diet, Fat-Restricted, Diet, Carbohydrate-Restricted
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
