Dietary factors are of supreme significance in the management and prevention of type 2 diabetes. Despite progress in formulating evidence based dietary guidance, controversy and confusion remain. What is the best dietary approach? Is it possible to achieve remission of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle behavior changes or is it inevitably a condition causing progressive health decline? We also examine the influence of nutrition transition and population specific factors in the global context and discuss future directions for effective dietary and nutritional approaches to manage type 2 diabetes and their implementation.

The idea of being on a “diet” for a chronic lifelong condition like diabetes is enough to put many people off as knowing what to eat and maintaining an optimal eating pattern are challenging. Medical nutrition therapy was introduced to guide a systematic and evidence-based approach to the management of diabetes through diet, and its effectiveness has been demonstrated, but difficulties remain. Although most diabetes guidelines recommend starting pharmacotherapy only after first making nutritional and physical activity lifestyle changes, this is not always followed in practice globally. Most physicians are not trained in nutrition interventions, and this is a barrier to counselling patients.

Type 2 diabetes is most associated with overweight or obesity and insulin resistance. Therefore, reducing weight and maintaining a healthy weight is a core part of clinical management. Weight loss is also linked to improvements in glycaemia, blood pressure, and lipids and hence can delay or prevent complications, particularly cardiovascular events.

Most guidelines recommend promoting weight loss among overweight or obese individuals by reducing energy intake. Portion control is one strategy to limit energy intake together with a healthy eating pattern that focuses on a diet composed of whole or unprocessed foods combined with physical activity and ongoing support.

The evidence points to promoting patterns of food intake that are high in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and dairy products such as yoghurt but with some cautions. Firstly, some dietary approaches (eg, low carbohydrate diets) recommend restricting the intake of fruits, whole grains, and legumes because of their sugar or starch content. For fruit intake, particularly among those with diabetes, opinion is divided among scientists and clinicians (see appendix on bmj.com). Many guidelines continue to recommend fruit, however, on the basis that fructose intake from fruits is preferable to isocaloric intake of sucrose or starch because of the additional micronutrient, phytochemical, and fiber content of fruit..

There is also consensus on the benefits of certain named dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet for prevention and management of type 2 diabetes.

Consensus exists on reducing or avoiding the intake of processed red meats, refined grains and sugars (especially sugar sweetened drinks) both for prevention and management of type 2 diabetes, again with some cautions. Firstly, for unprocessed red meat, the evidence of possible harm because of the development of type 2 diabetes is less consistent and of a smaller magnitude. More research is needed on specific benefits or harms in people with type 2 diabetes. general population, that diets that have a higher glycemic index and load are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and that there is a modest glycemic benefit in replacing foods with higher glycemic load with foods with low glycemic load. However, debate continues about the independence of these effects from the intake of dietary fiber. Some evidence exists that consumption of potato and white rice may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, but this is limited and further research is needed.

Its always better to consult a doctor or a nutritionist to look into the diet and get the proper diet chart for the diabetes.