Low Carbohydrate Diets for the Treatment of Metabolic Diseases

Abstract

Carbohydrates are among the major nutrients, including dietary fibers which do not contribute to blood glucose rises in humans. The major dietary carbohydrates are classified into three groups, sugars, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides, based on the degree of polymerization. Among the dietary carbohydrates, glucose (monosaccharides), maltose, sucrose, lactose (oligosaccharides), and starch (polysaccharides) provide food-derived blood glucose and contribute to increases in the postprandial glucose level. Hence, the proportion of carbohydrate in dietary food has an important effect on glucose metabolism in diabetes. Starvation therapy using a low-carbohydrate diet was the main dietary treatment until the discovery of insulin in 1921. Insulin treatment contributed to shift from low-carbohydrate to low-fat dietary treatment that has been established to date. Conversely, the recent role of low-carbohydrate diet therapy is reviewed and debated the therapeutic benefits concerning the diabetes treatment and prevention of diabetes complications. This review presents the summary and clinical considerations of the low-carbohydrate diet treatment.