A new meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that consuming diets with low glycaemic index (GI) could be beneficial for glycaemic control and reduction of body weight in individuals with prediabetes or diabetes.
Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 54 randomised controlled trials identified through a literature search on PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, clinicaltrials.gov and the WHO clinical trials databases.
Low GI diet was associated with an overall reduction in HbA1c of ~0.15 points and fasting blood glucose of ~1.67 mg/dL but had no significant effects on fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. Low GI diet was associated with an overall reduction in BMI of ~0.6 kg/m2. While there was no overall significant reduction in body weight with low-GI diet, individuals with obesity had a reduction of ~1.8 kg in body weight.
Low GI diet was associated with reductions of ~4.5 mg/dL and ~5.5 mg/dL in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, respectively, but was not associated with significant reductions in triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
The authors said: "Low-GI diets do have the potential to positively affect measures of blood glucose control, in combination with appropriate and effective pharmacological and lifestyle interventions."
