- A major pediatricians group cautions against low carb diets for children with diabetes or prediabetes.
- They say these diets could harm kids’ natural growth and development and should only be done under professional supervision.
- Instead of low carb diets, they recommend that children who need help managing weight or glucose levels limit carbohydrates from sugar, processed foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages.
Low carb and ketogenic diets are popular among many people in the United States and in some instances, can be helpful in managing type 2 diabetes or prediabetes among adults.
However, doctors and parents should avoid these diets for children with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, or prediabetes, according to a new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
While low carb diets can benefit adults, there is little research to support the safety and efficacy of low carb diets for children. Therefore, there are no clinical guidelines on restricting dietary carbohydrate consumption, the AAP report reads.
“Despite the increasing popularity of low carbohydrate and ketogenic diets for managing diabetes in adults, there are safety concerns to consider for youth with diabetes who are restricting carbohydrate intake to control weight and/or blood glucose,” the authors wrote.
“These include growth deceleration, nutritional deficiencies, poor bone health, nutritional ketosis that cannot be distinguished from ketosis resulting from insulin deficiency, and disordered eating behaviors.”
The AAP report states that children should typically receive 45% to 65% of their daily calories from carbohydrates, whereas low carbohydrate diets restrict that to less than 26% of total calories from carbohydrates.
Very low carb diets and the keto diet restrict that even further, with very low carb diets calling for 20 to 50 grams of carbs…
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