ho hum

Do low carb diets increase resistance to insulin? Wouldn't this be counter-productive to type II diabetics?

ericgu

In my estimation, low-carb diets don't have a lot to recommend them.

Simple carbs are bad for insulin resistance, however. Things like refined sugar, refined flour, etc. are to be avoided.

slowandsteady

In general low carb diets are not a good thing. But if you are insulin resistant or have type II diabetes or both, they can be a godsend. And it may be counter intuitive, but high glucose levels create insulin resistance not low blood glucose levels. Your low carb diet is a good thing. In particular you should be focused on low glycemic index foods when you do choose carbs.

FYI - I am a scientist in drug discovery who has done research in this area.

!!Comatoa$ted

Is it true that cinnamon reduces insulin resistance?

ModoVincere

Some studies have indicated that cinnamon can indeed reduce insulin resistance. The reduction is small however and no where near the reduction that exercise causes.

slowandsteady

I haven't researched cinnamon. I would have to do a search. Check out www.pubmed.com. It is the search engine created by the NIH for peer reviewed literature.

ho hum

Don't people on low carbohydrate diets have to worry more about cancers, diverticulosis, gout and so forth? I've tried to limit carbohydrates and had my liver enzymes get elevated and my BUN also went up. I feel stuck between diabetes, heart disease on one side and those things just listed on the other.

ModoVincere

Welcome to the human race. We are frail, we get sick, we suffer, we fight, we love , we have freinds, we laugh , we cry, we enjoy, and eventually we all die. Do the best you can in all things you do, while you are here and learn to enjoy the ride. We only get one.

ModoVincere

the following was extracted from an article in April on MedScape Medical News:

"In one of the cinnamon abstracts presented this week, Dr Heping Cao (Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, MD) and colleagues report that polyphenols found in cinnamon increase two of the key components involved in insulin function: the insulin receptor that is activated when insulin binds and glucose transporter 4, a component that is responsible for sugar to enter the cell [2]. In another aspect of the research, Cao et al showed that these same polyphenols increase a molecule that inhibits inflammatory responses and therefore may be important in the prevention of inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, autoimmunity, dermatitis, and cardiovascular diseases."

Richard Cranium

I'm not sure diet has anything to do with insulin resistance. It's my understanding that "pigging out" and being overweight aggravate people with insulin ressistance to the point of diabetes and or heart disease.

Ho Hum your questions demonstrate that you are either reading some really goofy articles or have hard time understanding what you DO read. Insulin resistance is a thought to be a genetic defect. It is not caused by a particular diet.

ModoVincere

Actually, some people respond to high saturated or trans fat levels in the diet by an increased insulin resistance. Usually, these people can reduce this insulin resistance by lowering their overall intake of fat and replacing some of the saturated and tans fats with monounsaturated fats such as that found in olive oil. However, exercise will reduce IR better than anything else.

ericgu

You can limit the high-glycemic index carbs without cutting out the low-glycemic index ones. Most low-glycemic diets feature considerable amounts of vegatables, whole grains, fruits, and all of those reduce the risk of cancer and can help with diverticulosis. I don't know much about gout, but I think that sort of diet is also compatible.

slowandsteady

You are wrong. IR can be genetic, but diet most certainly plays a role in creating it, aggravating it, and minimizing it.

slowandsteady

You have to be smart about what carbs you reduce or eliminate. And yes Gout is a risk with diets rich in meats, but a low carb diet doesn't have to mean a meat rich diet.

Colon cancer risk is increased when a person eats a low fiber diet, which can be a result of a low carb diet. But low carb doesn't have to mean low fiber. This is what happens when someone goes on Atkins and severely limits things like fruit and vegetables.

Fruits also contain anti-oxidants which reduce one's risk of many cancers. But again, you have to be smart about what carbs you reduce. Nutrition is complicated.

Check out a website on glycemic index. Then focus on eating low glycemic index foods. Or even better, see a nutritionist who can assess your medical history and make informed recomendations specific to you.

ModoVincere

+1 on the RD. Smartest way to change a diet, IMO.

andre nickatina

Fastest way to improve insulin resistance is selectively intake your carbs while focusing more on fat and protein for macronutrients. A diet which replaces grains for legumes would be a good idea, since legumes have carbs in them as well as a good amount of protein. Protein keeps insulin in check, so it's alawys good to combine protein and carbs at the same meal. Basically any diet in whole, unrefined foods will reverse IR, it's just a question of how fast. So low carb diets would be a godsend, the only problem is eating enough carbs to be able to maintain muscle glycogen for athletic endurance, so it'd be best to eat the carbs in your diet right before a bike ride.

And like someone else said, a low carb diet doesn't necessarily have to revolve around animal products. Nuts, oils and avocadoes are a few other foods which are high calorie, low carb foods that can replace things like bread and pasta for calories. There's all kinds of crazy diets out there...

kmckay

IF will have a profound impact on IR and lots of other benifits, and there is data to suggest that only a 15 hr window is needed to elicit allot of the effects I currently eat between 12 and 6pm it is easy and I have not lost any lbm doing it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_DocSum

DannoXYZ 

I don't like the term "insulin resistance" as there's a wide range in the insulin-sensitivity response. Low-sensitivity below a certain number might be called "resistance", but I prefer to look at the entire range of insulin sensitivity and look at mulitple factors that affect glucose-transport speed.

One of the biggest factors affecting insulin-sensitivity is the ratio of blood-glucose to muscle-glycogen concentrations. With the same blood-glucose level, say.. 110, muscle-cells that are glycogen-depleted will have much higher insulin-sensitivity and faster glucose-transport rates than muscle-cells that are completely full of glycogen. So eating a banana will result in different insulin-sensitivities when one is completely full an hour after a meal, versus if you've just come back from a century ride. When your muscular-glycogen is low, insulin-sensitivity is very high. In fact, right after exercising, you don't even need insulin to pump blood-glucose into the muscles. This is one reason why exercise is great for diabetes.

The other thing is that insulin-sensitvity comes down to the numbers. Different factors and strategies affect it differently. While the fasting study shows a variation of about 15% in insulin-sensitivity, selecting different types of foods will demonstrate a much larger change. And as previously mentioned, exercise will result in even greater effects on insulin-senstivity of over 100%.

Effects of fasting on humans:
AJCN - Isocaloric exchange of dietary starch and sucrose in humans (abstract). Full PDF paper here.

Whole-grains improve insulin-sensitivity:
AJCN - Whole-grain intake and insulin sensitivity: the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study

Paper showing differences in insulin-sensitivity between picking different foods vs. exercise:
AJCN - Sucrose-induced insulin resistance in the rat: modulation by exercise and diet (abstract). Full PDF paper here.