Effect of low glycemic load diet on glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in poorly-controlled diabetes patients

Different carbohydrate diets have been administrated to diabetic patients to evaluate the glycemic response, while Poor-controlled diabetes is increasing world wide. To investigate the role of an alternative carbohydrate diet on glycemic control, we explored the effect of a low glycemic load (Low GL)-high fat diet on glycemic response and also glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) of poor-controlled diabetes patients. Hundred poorly-controlled diabetes patients, HbA1c > 8, age 52.8 ± 4.5 y, were administrated a low GL diet , GL = 67 (Energy 1800 kcal; total fat 36%; fat derived from olive oil and nuts 15%; carbohydrate 42%; protein 22%) for 10 weeks. Patients did their routine life style program during intervention. Fasting blood glucose and HbA1c before and after intervention with significant reduction were: 169 ± 17, 141 ± 12; 8.85% (73 mmol/mol) ± 0.22%, and 7.81% (62 mmol/mol) ± 0.27%; respectively (P < 0.001). Mean fasting blood glucose reduced by 28.1 ± 12.5 and HbA1c by 1.1% (11 mmol/mol) ± 0.3% (P=0.001). There was positive moderate correlation between HbA1c concentration before intervention and FBS reduction after intervention (P < 0.001, at 0.01 level, R =0.52), and strong positive correlation between FBS before intervention and FBS reduction (P < 0.001, at 0.01 level, R = 0.70). This study demonstrated that our alternative low glycemic load diet can be effective in glycemic control.