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List of Resarch Papers

Evidence-based articles on diabetes management, nutrition, and healthcare, and much more.

1 min read

5-Year effects of a novel continuous remote care model with carbohydrate-restricted nutrition therapy including nutritional ketosis in type 2 diabetes: An extension study

A L McKenzie, S J Athinarayanan, Van Tieghem MR, B M Volk, C G Roberts, R N Adams, J S Volek, S D Phinney, S J Hallberg

Diabetes research and clinical practice 2024

A 5‑year very‑low‑carb, remote‑care program for type 2 diabetes showed durable benefits: 20% remission among completers, 33% reached HbA1c <6.5% with no meds or only metformin, alongside less medication and improved heart‑risk markers.

Lower-carb diets in type 1 diabetes are linked to better HbA1c and lower insulin needs, with no changes in LDL, HDL, or triglycerides. Very‑low and low‑carb studies most often hit the ADA HbA1c target of less than 7%

Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction in Type 1 Diabetes

Beth McNally, Amy Rush, Franziska Spritzler, Dr Caroline Roberts, Andrew Koutnik

2024

Therapeutic carbohydrate reduction (low-carb to very low‑carb) in type 1 diabetes can lower blood sugars, reduce insulin needs, and improve A1C—often with fewer highs and lows—when done with proper medical oversight. This comprehensive guide (96 page) available in full text is an excellent paper to bring to your doctor.

Effects of a low-carbohydrate diet in adults with type 1 diabetes management: A single arm non-randomised clinical trial

Jessica L Turton, Grant D Brinkworth, Helen M Parker, David Lim, Kevin Lee, Amy Rush, Rebecca Johnson, Kieron B Rooney

PLOS ONE 2023

Low‑carb, dietitian‑guided eating in type 1 diabetes improved HbA1c, time‑in‑range, and cut insulin—without more hypos or ketoacidosis. Short‑term, promising, needs larger trials.

Low Carbohydrate Dietary Approaches for People With Type 2 Diabetes—A Narrative Review

Sean D Wheatley, Trudi A Deakin, Nicola C Arjomandkhah, Paul B Hollinrake, Trudi E Reeves

Frontiers in Nutrition 2021

Low-carb diets match or beat low-fat for Type 2 diabetes—often cutting meds and improving HbA1c—without evidence of increased cardiovascular risk.

Small Dense Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in a Japanese Community

Mayu Higashioka, Satoko Sakata, Takanori Honda, Jun Hata, Daigo Yoshida, Yoichiro Hirakawa, Mao Shibata, Kenichi Goto, Takanari Kitazono, Haruhiko Osawa, Toshiharu Ninomiya

Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis 2020

Small, dense LDL—not total LDL—best flagged future heart disease risk. Even with normal LDL, high sdLDL doubled risk.

A food-based, low-energy, low-carbohydrate diet for people with type 2 diabetes in primary care: A randomized controlled feasibility trial

Elizabeth Morris, Paul Aveyard, Pamela Dyson, Michaela Noreik, Clare Bailey, Robin Fox, Derek Jerome, Garry D Tan, Susan A Jebb

Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism 2020

A nurse‑delivered, real‑food low‑energy, low‑carb plan led to far greater weight loss and HbA1c reductions in 12 weeks than usual care. Short‑term cardiometabolic markers and medication use improved too.

Insights from a general practice service evaluation supporting a lower carbohydrate diet in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and prediabetes: a secondary analysis of routine clinic data including HbA1c, weight and prescribing over 6 years

David Unwin, Ali Ahsan Khalid, Jen Unwin, Dominic Crocombe, Christine Delon, Kathy Martyn, Rajna Golubic, Sumantra Ray

BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2020

Lower‑carb guidance in a UK GP practice led to 46% drug‑free type 2 diabetes remission and 93% normalization of prediabetes, with significant drops in HbA1c, weight, BP, and triglycerides.

Nutrition Therapy for Adults With Diabetes or Prediabetes: A Consensus Report

Alison B. Evert, Michelle Dennison, Christopher D. Gardner, W. Timothy Garvey, Ka Hei Karen Lau, Janice MacLeod, Joanna Mitri, Raquel F. Pereira, Kelly Rawlings, Shamera Robinson, Laura Saslow, Sacha Uelmen, Patricia B. Urbanski, William S., Jr. Yancy

Diabetes Care 2019

The ADA’s consensus report signals a major shift by confirming that personalized nutrition—including low-carbohydrate diets—demonstrates the most evidence for immediate blood sugar control, validating flexible eating plans over the old 'one-size-fits-all' standard

Randomised trial of coconut oil, olive oil or butter on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors in healthy men and women

Kay-Tee Khaw, Stephen J Sharp, Leila Finikarides, Islam Afzal, Marleen Lentjes, Robert Luben, Nita G Forouhi

bmjopen;8/3/e020167 2018

Butter raised LDL; coconut oil didn’t—despite having more saturated fat (94% vs. 66%). In this 4‑week test, coconut oil matched olive oil for LDL and boosted HDL, and inflammation didn’t rise.

Effects of a low carbohydrate diet on energy expenditure during weight loss maintenance: randomized trial

C B Ebbeling, H A Feldman, G L Klein, J M Wong, L Bielak, S K Steltz, P K Luoto, R R Wolfe, W W Wong, D S Ludwig

BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2018

Tired of regaining weight after dieting? Research shows that a low-carb diet significantly boosts your daily calorie burn—up to 478 calories for those with high insulin secretion—making long-term weight maintenance dramatically easier.

Lack of an association or an inverse association between low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and mortality in the elderly: a systematic review

Uffe Ravnskov, David M Diamond, Rokura Hama, Tomohito Hamazaki, Björn Hammarskjöld, Niamh Hynes, Malcolm Kendrick, Peter H Langsjoen, Aseem Malhotra, Luca Mascitelli, Kilmer S McCully, Yoichi Ogushi, Harumi Okuyama, Paul J Rosch, Tore Schersten, Sherif Sultan, Ralf Sundberg

BMJ Open 2016

Think “bad cholesterol” is always bad? In people 60+, higher LDL was linked to equal or lower death rates across many studies—challenging the “lower is better” rule.

Fat, protein, and GI meaningfully shift post‑meal glucose in Type 1 diabetes—often demanding more insulin than carb counting alone. The same carbs don’t mean the same insulin when meals are high in fat or protein.

Dietary carbohydrate restriction as the first approach in diabetes management: Critical review and evidence base

Richard D. Feinman, Wendy K. Pogozelski, Arne Astrup, Richard K. Bernstein, Eugene J. Fine, Eric C. Westman, Anthony Accurso, Lynda Frassetto, Barbara A. Gower, Samy I. McFarlane, Jörgen Vesti Nielsen, Thure Krarup, Laura Saslow, Karl S. Roth, Mary C. Vernon, Jeff S. Volek, Gilbert B. Wilshire, Annika Dahlqvist, Ralf Sundberg, Ann Childers, Katharine Morrison, Anssi H. Manninen, Hussain M. Dashti, Richard J. Wood, Jay Wortman, Nicolai Worm

Nutrition 2015

This paper argues that restricting carbs should be the first-line diet for diabetes because it quickly lowers blood sugar, improves key health markers, and often reduces medications—without proven long‑term harms comparable to drugs.

Small Dense Low-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol Concentrations Predict Risk for Coronary Heart Disease

Ron C Hoogeveen, John W Gaubatz, Wensheng Sun, Rhiannon C Dodge, Jacy R Crosby, Jennifer Jiang, David Couper, Salim S Virani, Sekar Kathiresan, Eric Boerwinkle, Christie M Ballantyne

Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 2014

Small, dense LDL exposes hidden heart risk: it predicts events even when LDL looks “normal.”

Relationship between Funding Source and Conclusion among Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles

Lenard I Lesser, Cara B Ebbeling, Merrill Goozner, David Wypij, David S Ludwig

PLOS Medicine 2007

This study suggests that when companies pay for nutrition research, the results are much more likely to support the companies’ products. This doesn’t automatically mean the research is false, but it highlights the need for caution and transparency about who funds health research and how that might impact the findings

Effect of a low-carbohydrate diet on appetite, blood glucose levels, and insulin resistance in obese patients with type 2 diabetes

G Boden, K Sargrad, C Homko, M Mozzoli, T P Stein

Annals of internal medicine 2005

You might wonder: Is weight loss without constant hunger even possible? Research on type 2 diabetes patients showed that a low-carb diet caused a spontaneous drop in daily calorie intake, while simultaneously boosting insulin sensitivity by 75%

Notes of a diabetic case.

John Rollo

Royal College of Physicians of London 1796

A 1797 case report by John Rollo describes treating diabetes with a strict animal‑based, low‑carbohydrate diet and monitoring urine sugar, noting rapid symptom improvements.