Home
- Eating Well (or at Least Not terribly) at Fast Food Resturants
You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View
See if you qualify for our free healthcare professional magazines. Click here to start your application for Pre-Diabetes Health, Diabetes Health Pharmacist and Diabetes Health Professional.
Latest Low Carb Articles
Popular Low Carb Articles
Highly Recommended Low Carb Articles
Email to a Friend
Send a link to this page to your friends and colleagues.
Low Carb Diet Alters Hormone Levels to Fight Metabolic Syndrome
Recently, four men and sixteen women with metabolic syndrome, weighing an average of 200 pounds, were put on the low carb South Beach diet for three months.
Although they were told to reduce their carbs down to only ten percent of total calories in the first two weeks and to keep them down to 27 percent in the remaining ten weeks, they didn't manage to follow the diet that strictly.
In fact, they ended up eating 25 percent carbs during the first phase and 35 percent carbs during the second phase. Nevertheless, they lost an average of nearly ten pounds, and half of them no longer had metabolic syndrome by the end of the study.
To find out why and how this occurred, the researchers measured the production of hormones associated with appetite, including insulin, leptin, ghrelin, and cholecystokinin (CCK). CCK is a gastrointestinal hormone that stimulates the digestion of fat and protein and acts as a hunger suppressant.
Leptin is produced by adipose (fat) tissue; when it binds to brain receptors, it creates a sense of fullness. Ghrelin, produced by the stomach lining, increases before meals and decreases after meals; it stimulates appetite, working counter to leptin.
By the end of the first two weeks, insulin and leptin levels had both decreased. By the end of the second phase, insulin levels approached baseline again. Leptin levels, although they also rose, did not return to baseline.
By phase 2, fasting levels of ghrelin had also increased significantly from baseline. After-meal increases in CCK, however, were significantly greater than at the start of the study.
The researchers, led by Matthew Hayes of Pennsylvania State University, speculate that those ups and downs in hormone levels work synergistically, allowing the low-carb diet to create a sense of satisfaction in spite of fewer calories.
As usual, they note that further research is needed to underpin their speculations, especially when it comes to people without metabolic syndrome.
Sources: Journal of Nutrition, August 2007; Medline Plus
Categories: Heart Care & Heart Disease, Insulin, Low Carb, Professional Issues
You May Also Be Interested In...
-
Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
-
Topics
- Diabetic / Diabetes Health
- Type 1 / 1.5 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Blood Glucose / Sugar
- High/Low Blood Sugar / Fast Acting Glucose
- Insulin- Pumps, Pens & Syringes
- Continuous Glucose Monitors, CGM, Infusion Sets
- Type 2 Medications
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
Comments
I am on a low carb plan and have found a website called netrition that specializes in low carb products. They have pasta called Dreamfields which is full of fiber. I think it has around 5 net carbs a serving. It tastes great and does not make me feel sick or raise my blood sugar as does regular pasta. You might give it a try, but just to be safe I would test my blood sugar after eating it to see if it effects you negatively. Make sure to cook it only until al dente for best results.
Add your comments about this article below. You can add comments as a registered user or anonymously. If you choose to post anonymously your comments will be sent to our moderator for approval before they appear on this page. If you choose to post as a registered user your comments will appear instantly.
When voicing your views via the comment feature, please respect the Diabetes Health community by refraining from comments that could be considered offensive to other people. Diabetes Health reserves the right to remove comments when necessary to maintain the cordial voice of the diabetes community.
For your privacy and protection, we ask that you do not include personal details such as address or telephone number in any comments posted.
Don't have your Diabetes Health Username? Register now and add your comments to all our content.
Register...
Register your Diabetes Health Username here.
Have Your Say...