Low carb diet could help treat both diabetes and prediabetes

Diabetes is a serious and lifelong medical condition. In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, the level of sugar – or glucose – in your blood becomes too high. Therefore, it’s vitally important for people with diabetes, or prediabetes, to try to keep their blood sugar levels down.Patients with diabetes are often advised to eat healthy and well-balanced diets that keep sugar and salt to a minimum.But a new study has now proved eating fewer carbohydrates can have a positive effect on blood sugar in people with prediabetes and diabetes who aren’t being treated with medications.Prediabetes refers to having blood sugar levels that are higher than usual but not as high as those with diabetes.Those with prediabetes are at high risk for diabetes.READ MORE: 95% of heart attack survivors report experiencing two symptoms 1 month prior to the event Cutting back on carbs could help treat diabetes (Image: Getty Images)As part of the research, by Tulane University in the US, the team compared two groups.One was put on a low-carb diet and the other stuck to their usual diet.After six months, the low-carb diet group had greater drops in haemoglobin A1c, a marker for blood sugar levels, when compared with the group who ate their usual diet.The low-carbohydrate diet group also lost weight and had lower fasting glucose levels.In a university release, lead author and assistant professor of epidemiology – Kirsten Dorans – explained: ‘The key message is that a low-carbohydrate diet, if maintained, might be a useful approach for preventing and treating type 2 diabetes, though more research is needed.DON’T MISSAcholic stools are ‘the most common’ sign of pancreatic cancer in ‘initial’ stages [CANCER]’Pharyngitis’ now most common Covid symptom in double jabbed and is seen in 63% of cases [INSIGHT]Seasonal affective disorder: Doctor shares best diet that has ‘protective’ effect on mood [EXPERT] Study participants on the low card diet also ate healthy fats like olive oil (Image: Getty Images) Symptoms of diabetes to be aware of (Image: Express.co.uk)According to Diabetes.co.uk, ‘normal’ blood sugar levels are between 4.0 to 5.4 millimoles per litre (mmol/L) when fasting.And up to 7.8 mmol/L two hours after eating.For people with diabetes, blood sugar level targets are four to seven mmol/L before eating.And they should be under nine mmol/L for people with type 1 diabetes, and under 8.5 mmol/L for people with type 2 diabetes after eating.