There are several studies showing superior results obtained with low carb diets over other approaches for patients with type II diabetes (see our new Diabetes Page for references). Dr. William Davis on The Heart Scan Blog notes success he sees with his patients:

This is precisely what I see in practice: Elimination of wheat and sugars yields dramatic effects on basic lipids, especially reductions in triglycerides of up to several hundred milligrams, increased HDL, reduced LDL.

Beneath the surface, the effects are even more dramatic: reductions or elimination of small LDL particles, reduction or elimination of triglyceride-containing lipoproteins, elimination of the marker for abnormal post-prandial (after-eating) lipoproteins, IDL, reduced c-reactive protein. Add weight loss from abdominal fat stores and reduced blood pressure.

But some patients experience rising blood sugar levels no matter what they do. And its possible that they have been misdiagnosed and are part of what may be a hidden epidemic affecting up to 10% of the people diagnosed with type II diabetes. Jenny at Diabetes Update Blog describes several emails she has received lately:

They have blood sugars that continue to climb no matter what they eat. They ask me why when they eat no carbs at all their blood sugars are still over 140 mg/dl hours after a meal.

They are on all the oral drugs and sometimes even Byetta, but their blood sugars still go into the 300s.

Some have histories of Gestational Diabetes that came on when they were thin. Some gained a lot of weight very recently but were normal weight before that.

All have relatives with diabetes. Some have relatives with Type 1 diabetes. Most have relatives with other autoimmune disease.

And all of them, it turns out, though diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and given the miserably ineffectual medical treatment doctors give people with Type 2, turn out to have LADA.

I have included a section for LADA in our Diabetes Research Page. Its certainly worth talking to your doctor about if you are one of the few who cannot lower blood sugar by restricting carbs.

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