Diet and the diabetic: the fallacy of a controlled carbohydrate intake.

The dietary intake of 16 well-established diabetics was recorded over six-week periods on two different diets--a conventional, carbohydrate-controlled diet and an unrestricted, carbohydrate diet which allowed free choice as to quantity of food eaten and time of meals. In all patients the carbohydrate intake varied considerably from day to day and the variation was as great on the supposedly controlled carbohydrate diet as on the unrestricted diet. In agreement with other studies, carbohydrate intake was often considerably higher on the usual diabetic diet than had been recommended or than the patient believed they were taking. It is suggested that present methods for controlling the carbohydrate intake of diabetics are ineffective and, in particular, do not ensure a regular intake from day to day.