Diabetes Digital Media’s (DDM) Chief Medical Officer Dr Campbell Murdoch and Dr David Unwin, who helped develop DDM’s NHS-approved Low Carb Program app, have co-written a research paper published in British Journal of General Practice outlining how a low carb diet can reduce the medication burden in type 2 diabetes.
The review, entitled ‘Adapting diabetes medication for low carbohydrate management of type 2 diabetes: a practical guide’, details the benefits of a low carb diet, which include improved blood glucose control, weight loss and reductions in drug costs due to medication cessation.
Drs Murdoch and Unwin, who co-authored the paper with Mark Cucuzzella from West Virginia University School of Medicine in the US, and Mahendra Patel, from the University of Sheffield, UK, wrote: “The LCD [low carb diet] is an increasingly popular option for managing T2D that can lead to improvements in the condition, reduced medication burde, and (where needed) weight loss. Primary care clinicians need to be competent in adjusting diabetes medications to achieve safe and effective care.”
The guidance has been produced in response to patients making significant health improvements as a result of following the Low Carb Program, an award-winning digital health programme that has been clinically demonstrated to improve glycemic control and reduce hypoglycemic medications in people with type 2 diabetes. Over 415,000 people have enrolled to date since November 2015.
Peer-reviewed, published health outcomes demonstrate patients with type 2 diabetes who complete the programme sustainably lose an average of 7.4kg at one-year and reduce HbA1c by 1.2%. Four in 10 people eliminate at least one medication and one in four people are classified as being in type 2 diabetes remission
