Weight Loss, Cholesterol and Blood Sugar Improvements - What's the Wonder Drug Now?

While the media is hot and heavy to lead their headlines with junk science complete with amateurish conclusions, a study was quietly published Friday in the journal, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - Beneficial effects of ketogenic diet in obese diabetic subjects (abstract) - that's remains ignored.

No fanfare, no ballyhoo, in fact, not one headline to call attention to the significant findings, over the course of a year, of a dietary trial in obese subjects with and without type II diabetes.

Findings that included:

For both groups, diabetic and normal glucose:

• Weight loss of 24.55kg in 56-weeks (that's 54-pounds)
• Total Cholesterol down 19.3%
• LDL down 28.2%
• HDL up 52.3%
• Triglycerides down 59%
• Fasting Blood Glucose down 31%

For those with type II diabetes:

• Weigth loss of 24.4kg in 56-weeks (that's 53.7-pounds)
• Total Cholesterol down 28.5%
• LDL down 33%
• HDL up 63.4%
• Triglycerides down 40.8%
• Fasting Blood Glucose down 50.9% (yes, glucose fell more than 50%)

So, what exactly did the researchers have these subjects do that led to such impressive improvements over the course of 56-weeks?

Sixty-four subjects were divided into two groups - thirty one had abnormal glucose levels (type II diabetes) and the remaining thirty-three had normal glucose levels. Both groups were instructed to modify their diet to include only 20g of carbohydrate a day from a list of foods allowed along with 5-tablespoons of olive oil on salads, and allowed 80g-100g of protein from meat, eggs, fish, poultry and full-fat cheese each day. No alcohol was consumed by participants. At week 12, participants were allowed to increase carbohydrate to 40g per day. Throughout the 56-weeks some foods were forbidden - flour, bread, rice, macaroni, noodles, honey, sugar, sweets, cakes, potatoes, all fruit juices and all soft drinks.

Yes, shocker - the study was designed to measure the effects of a ketogenic diet in subjects with and without type II diabetes.

So, with the above findings, it's no wonder this one is being quietly ignored.

While the media, government policy makers and leading health organizations keep wishing for negative findings from studies of low carbohydrate diets, the opposite keeps happening - the pile of studies finding significant improvement keeps growing higher and higher.

How profound were the changes in real numbers?

Those with diabetes had baseline fasting blood glucose levels of 188.64mg/dl; by the end of the trial, at week 56, their fasting blood glucose averaged 87.66mg/dl. Even those with normal blood glucose, who started with a baseline fasting blood glucose of 92mg/dl, saw improvement; at the end of the trial they had a fasting blood glucose of 85mg/dl.

There is not one drug on the market today, recommended for those with diabetes, that shows such significant improvement in fasting blood sugar, sustained over a period of more than a year!

Oh, but it gets better. Cholesterol improvements in this trial were unmatched by any drug trial.

Those with diabetes:

Baseline Week-56

Total Cholesterol 265 190
LDL 203 131
HDL 39 62
Triglycerides 418 89

Those with normal glucose:

Baseline Week-56

Total Cholesterol 214 181
LDL 156 109
HDL 47 63
Triglycerides 160 77

No cholesterol medication reduces LDL by 33% while also increasing HDL by 63.4%; and reducing triglycerides by 59%.

If the above finding were for a new drug, not only would the headlines be screaming for everyone with dyslipidemia to be prescribed it immediately, but every last expert in the country would be making the rounds in the media to be heard about this new wonder drug!

Sadly this isn't a new wonder drug rich with potential for profits. Instead it's simple dietary therapy, with no bottomline enhancement for anyone, save for a few farmers and ranchers.

So no headlines, no urgent call to take a look at the data which validates previous studies, no demands for reviewing the evidence; nope, the powers that be will continue along, fingers in ears, singing "La La La" as they hope no one notices the mountain of evidence growing.

If you have diabetes, or are at risk for developing diabetes, get to know what a carbohydrate restricted diet is and how to integrate it into your health management, it may save your life.

UPDATE 4/24/2007

A reader brought to my attention a pretty glaring error in reporting of reduction of triglycerides. I posted the numbers from the full-text above as published - a reduction in triglycerides in those with high blood glucose = -40.8%

A review of the actual numbers shows a reduction over the 56-week period from 4.681mmol/l to 1.006mmol/l - a 78.72% reduction in those with high blood glucose; and from 1.827mmol/l to 0.861mmol/l in those with normal blood glucose - a 54.01% reduction.