PhD defence: Cut down on carbohydrate in the dietary therapy of type 2 diabetes

Mechanisms of effective therapy by selective choice of macronutrients

Mads Gustav Juul Skytte

PhD thesis

Nutritional therapy is recognized as a first-line therapeutic intervention in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, dietary recommendations are ambiguous and no clear consensus exists regarding the macronutrient distribution of the diabetes diet.

Current Danish diabetes dietary guidelines recommend a macronutrient distribution of 45-60 energy percent (E%) from carbohydrates, 10-20 E% from protein and <35 E% from fat. The American diabetes association has recently recommended carbohydrate-restriction as one out of several viable nutritional therapeutic interventions.

Although meta-analyses have revealed receding or absent long-term effects, it has been suggested that carbohydrate-restriction may improve glycemic control. Nevertheless, evaluation of dietary interventions remains complex as most feeding studies are influenced by a concomitant weight loss affecting the metabolic outcomes.

This PhD project aimed to investigate the effects of a conventional diabetes diet (carbohydrates/proteins/fat; 50/17/33 E%) and an iso-energetic carbohydrate-reduced high-protein diet (carbohydrates/proteins/fat; 30/30/40 E%) during 6 weeks of full meal provision aiming at weight stability in patients with type 2 diabetes.

2020, 119 pages.

Time

22 April 2020, 13:00

Place

Digital defence.

Opponents 

Professor Inge Tetens .(chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Professor Thomas Nyström, Karolinska Instituttet, Sweden.

Professor and chief consultant Jens Meldgaard Bruun, Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, Aarhus University Hospital, University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Main supervisor

Associate professor, Thomas Meinert Larsen, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Primary co-supervisor

Professor, DMSc Jens Juul Holst, University of Copenhagen, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Denmark

Co-supervisors

DMSc Thure Krarup, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Department of Endocrinology, Denmark

Professor, DMSc Steen Bendix Haugaard, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Department of Endocrinology, Denmark

Professor, DMSc Arne Astrup, University of Copenhagen, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Denmark

Professor, DMSc Sten Madsbad, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Department of Endocrinology, Denmark.

The thesis is available for inspection at the library, Nørre Allé 51, DK-2200 Copenhagen N.