Dietary Acid Load and Body Weight in Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Authors

Hana Kahleova, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC.
Joseph Himmelfarb, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC.
Cristina Maracine, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC.
Arathi Jayaraman, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC.
Tatiana Znayenko-Miller, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC.
Richard Holubkov, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.
Neal D. Barnard, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Journal

Clinical diabetes : a publication of the American Diabetes Association

Volume

43

Issue

4

DOI

10.2337/cd25-0035

Abstract

The purpose of this secondary analysis was to assess the potential role of dietary acid load in people with type 1 diabetes. Participants were randomly assigned to either a vegan or a portion-controlled diet group for 12 weeks, and 3-day dietary records were analyzed. Potential renal acid load and net endogenous acid production-both markers of dietary acid load-decreased significantly in the vegan group, but not in the portion-controlled group. Body weight decreased by 5.2 kg in the vegan group, compared with a nonsignificant change in weight in the portion-controlled group. Changes in dietary acid load correlated positively with changes in body weight. The reduction in dietary acid load may partly explain the observed weight loss on a vegan diet.

APA Citation

Kahleova, Hana; Himmelfarb, Joseph; Maracine, Cristina; Jayaraman, Arathi; Znayenko-Miller, Tatiana; Holubkov, Richard; and Barnard, Neal D., "Dietary Acid Load and Body Weight in Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial" (2025). GW Authored Works. Paper 8323.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/8323

Department

Medicine