Diabetic diet

Diabetic diet
Intervention
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Diabetic diet refers to the diet that is recommended for people with diabetes mellitus or high blood glucose. There is much disagreement regarding what this diet should consist of. Since carbohydrate is the macronutrient that raises blood glucose levels most significantly, the greatest debate is regarding how low in carbohydrates the diet should be. This is because although lowering carbohydrate intake will lead to reduced blood glucose levels, this conflicts with the traditional establishment view that carbohydrates should be the main source of calories. Recommendations of the fraction of total calories to be obtained from carbohydrate are generally in the range of 20% to 45%, but recommendations can vary as widely as from 16% to 75%.

The most agreed-upon recommendation is for the diet to be low in sugar and refined carbohydrates, while relatively high in dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber. Likewise, people with diabetes may be encouraged to reduce their intake of carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index (GI), although this is also controversial. (In cases of hypoglycemia, they are advised to have food or drink that can raise blood glucose quickly, such as lucozade, followed by a long-acting carbohydrate (such as rye bread) to prevent risk of further hypoglycemia.) Others question the usefulness of the glycemic index and recommend high-GI foods like potatoes and rice. It has been claimed that oleic acid has a slight advantage over linoleic acid in reducing plasma glucose.

There has been long history of dietary treatment of diabetes mellitus. Dietary treatment of diabetes mellitus was used in Egypt since 3,500 B.C. and was used in India by Sushruta and Charaka more than 2000 years ago. In the 18th century, John Rollo argued that calorie restriction could reduce glycosuria in diabetes.

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