Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Alerts
  • Advertising/recruitment
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Author's Takes
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • 100th Anniversary of Insulin's Discovery (Jan 2021)
    • Hypoxia-inducible factors in disease pathophysiology and therapeutics (Oct 2020)
    • Latency in Infectious Disease (Jul 2020)
    • Immunotherapy in Hematological Cancers (Apr 2020)
    • Big Data's Future in Medicine (Feb 2020)
    • Mechanisms Underlying the Metabolic Syndrome (Oct 2019)
    • Reparative Immunology (Jul 2019)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • Recently published
    • In-Press Preview
    • Commentaries
    • Concise Communication
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoint
    • Top read articles
  • Clinical Medicine
  • JCI This Month
    • Current issue
    • Past issues

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Author's Takes
  • Recently published
  • In-Press Preview
  • Commentaries
  • Concise Communication
  • Editorials
  • Viewpoint
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Alerts
  • Advertising/recruitment
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

Review Series 10.1172/JCI142246

Carbohydrate restriction for diabetes: rediscovering centuries-old wisdom

Belinda S. Lennerz,1,2,3 Andrew P. Koutnik,4,5 Svetlana Azova,1,2,3 Joseph I. Wolfsdorf,2,3 and David S. Ludwig1,2,3

1New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and

2Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

3Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

4Human Health, Resilience & Performance, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, and

5Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

Address correspondence to: Belinda S. Lennerz or David S. Ludwig, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. Email: belinda.lennerz@childrens.harvard.edu (BSL). Email: david.ludwig@childrens.harvard.edu (DSL).

Find articles by Lennerz, B. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

1New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and

2Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

3Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

4Human Health, Resilience & Performance, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, and

5Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

Address correspondence to: Belinda S. Lennerz or David S. Ludwig, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. Email: belinda.lennerz@childrens.harvard.edu (BSL). Email: david.ludwig@childrens.harvard.edu (DSL).

Find articles by Koutnik, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

1New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and

2Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

3Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

4Human Health, Resilience & Performance, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, and

5Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

Address correspondence to: Belinda S. Lennerz or David S. Ludwig, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. Email: belinda.lennerz@childrens.harvard.edu (BSL). Email: david.ludwig@childrens.harvard.edu (DSL).

Find articles by Azova, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar |

1New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and

2Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

3Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

4Human Health, Resilience & Performance, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, and

5Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

Address correspondence to: Belinda S. Lennerz or David S. Ludwig, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. Email: belinda.lennerz@childrens.harvard.edu (BSL). Email: david.ludwig@childrens.harvard.edu (DSL).

Find articles by Wolfsdorf, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar |

1New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and

2Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

3Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

4Human Health, Resilience & Performance, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, and

5Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

Address correspondence to: Belinda S. Lennerz or David S. Ludwig, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. Email: belinda.lennerz@childrens.harvard.edu (BSL). Email: david.ludwig@childrens.harvard.edu (DSL).

Find articles by Ludwig, D. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Published January 4, 2021 - More info

Published in Volume 131, Issue 1 on January 4, 2021
J Clin Invest. 2021;131(1):e142246. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI142246.
© 2021 American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published January 4, 2021 - Version history
View PDF

Carbohydrate restriction, used since the 1700s to prolong survival in people with diabetes, fell out of favor after the discovery of insulin. Despite costly pharmacological and technological developments in the last few decades, current therapies do not achieve optimal outcomes, and most people with diabetes remain at high risk for micro- and macrovascular complications. Recently, low-carbohydrate diets have regained popularity, with preliminary evidence of benefit for body weight, postprandial hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and other cardiometabolic risk factors in type 2 diabetes and, with more limited data, in type 1 diabetes. High-quality, long-term trials are needed to assess safety concerns and determine whether this old dietary approach might help people with diabetes attain clinical targets more effectively, and at a lower cost, than conventional treatment.

Preview pages

Reset
Next Page 0 Back

Continue reading with a subscription.

A subscription is required for you to read this article in full. If you are a subscriber, you may sign in to continue reading.

Already subscribed?

Click here to sign into your account.

Don't have a subscription?

Please select one of the subscription options, which includes a low-cost option just for this article.

At an institution or library?

If you are at an institution or library and believe you should have access, please check with your librarian or administrator (more information).

Problems?

Please try these troubleshooting tips.

  • Purchase this article
  • $10
  • Purchasing this article will give you full access for the calendar year.
  • Purchase article
  • Purchase Site Pass
  • $25
  • This will give you access to every article on the site for 24 hours.
  • Order site pass
  • Online subscription
  • $95
  • Individual online subscriptions give you full online access for the calendar year.
  • Individual online subscriptions ordered from September 1st on will receive access for the remainder of current year as well as for the full following year subscription term.
  • Order Online
  • JCI This Month subscription
  • $135
  • JCI This Month is a 16- to 20-page overview of the articles published each month
  • Subscribing to JCI This Month also gives subscribers full online access for the calendar year.
  • *Price outside U.S. and Canada: $195.
  • JCI This Month + Online
Advertisement
Follow JCI:
Copyright © 2021 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts