Background: There have been lots of discussion and controversy concerning the difference between Low Carbohydrate Diet (LCD) and Calorie Restriction (CR). The important points include glucose variability, glucose-lowering effect, weight reduction degree and influence on lipid metabolism.
Subjects and Methods: Enrolled subjects were 47 patients with T2DM. Methods included the study for providing subjects CR meal with 60% carbohydrate on day 1-2 and LCD meal with 12% on day 3-14. Daily profile of blood glucose was studied seven times a day on day 2 and day 4. Further, biomarkers including HbA1c, average blood glucose, and M value were investigated and analyzed for mutual correlations.
Results: Subjects were categorized into 4 groups according to the average glucose value, which were 124mg/dL, 160mg/dL, 206mg/dL, and 281mg/dL, respectively. Data in 4 groups were as follows: Number; 12,12,12,11, Male/Female; 6/6, 3/9, 6/6, 5/6, mean age; 51.3, 60.9, 65.3, 60.6 years old, HbA1c; 6.1%, 7.1%, 8.0%, 8.9%, fasting glucose on day 2; 109 mg/dL, 136 mg/dL, 178 mg/dL, 224mg/dL, respectively. Daily profiles of blood glucose in 4 groups on day 4 were remarkably decreased than those of day 2. The levels of M value indicating average blood glucose and mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE) on day 2 vs 4 were compared in 4 groups, which are 7.1 vs 10.5, 39.7 vs 5.0, 139 vs 15.7, 367 vs88, respectively. Correlations among HbA1c, M value and average blood glucose showed significant correlations (p<0.01).
Discussion and Conclusion: Obtained results showed that the distribution of daily profile of blood glucose in 4 groups is separated. Further similar tendency was observed in HbA1c and M value. There was remarkable decrease of blood glucose from CR to LCD. These findings suggested that LCD would have remarkable efficacy for improving glucose variability. Furthermore, obtained findings could become basal and reference data for the developing research for CR and LCD
