Diabetics who eat diets with a lot of fat but few carbohydrates are better able to maintain healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels, according to a new study that challenges the standard dietary advice.

People with Type 2 diabetes are typically urged to consume low-fat foods. But Linköping University researchers, writing in the journal Diabetologia, said their two-year analysis of 61 diabetics found those who followed a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet fared far better than those on a conventional low-fat diet.
"You could ask yourself if it really is good to recommend a low-fat diet to patients with diabetes, if despite their weight loss they get neither better lipoproteins nor blood glucose levels," said researcher Fredrik Nyström.
Nystrom said the new research showed diabetics on both diets lost weight, but those eating more high-fat, low-carb foods were able to control their blood sugar better, with glucose levels dropping after six months. What’s more, the patients did not experience a rise in LDL “bad” cholesterol, despite their increased fat intake, but their HDL “good” cholesterol went up.