Carb Counting

By Quinn Phillips For what seems like ages, carbohydrate counting has been the standard way to calculate mealtime insulin doses for people with diabetes who take insulin. By applying your personal insulin-to-carbohydrate ratio and taking your premeal blood glucose level into account, counting carbs can help you dose your insulin to achieve tight blood glucose control while minimizing the risk of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose). Carb counting has spread beyond just people who take insulin; it is now widely used as a general meal-planning tool for people with diabetes. But according to a recent review of research on the subject, counting carbs may not live up to its reputation when it comes to blood glucose control. Published late last month by The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, the review sifted through 311 studies to find seven that lasted at least three months and compared carb counting with "general or alternate dietary advice" in people with Type 1 diabetes. According to an article on the review by MedPage Today, five of the previously published studies found carb counting to result in lower HbA1c levels (a measure of long-term blood glucose control) by an average of 0.64%, while two studies found that alternative, rougher methods of calculating insulin doses worked just as well or better. When data from all seven studies were combined — resulting in a subject pool of 599 adults and 104 children with Type 1 diabetes — there was no significant difference in H...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs