How eating less sugar helps the liver in people with type 2 diabetes
Beneficial Effects of Carbohydrate Restriction in Type 2 Diabetes Can Be Traced to Changes in Hepatic Metabolism.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study looked at how two different diets affect the liver in adults with mild type 2 diabetes. One diet had very little carbohydrate (keto), and the other had low fat. After 12 weeks, the keto diet helped reduce fat in the liver and lowered a marker of fat production.
Surprising Findings
Fasting glucagon increased by 25% on the ketogenic diet, yet liver fat still decreased.
Glucagon typically promotes glucose production in the liver, which some assume could stress the liver or worsen fat accumulation. But here, higher glucagon was linked to *less* liver fat, challenging the idea that glucagon is always harmful in diabetes.
Practical Takeaways
For people with mild type 2 diabetes, reducing carbohydrate intake to around 9% of calories may help reduce liver fat and improve metabolic health.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study looked at how two different diets affect the liver in adults with mild type 2 diabetes. One diet had very little carbohydrate (keto), and the other had low fat. After 12 weeks, the keto diet helped reduce fat in the liver and lowered a marker of fat production.
Surprising Findings
Fasting glucagon increased by 25% on the ketogenic diet, yet liver fat still decreased.
Glucagon typically promotes glucose production in the liver, which some assume could stress the liver or worsen fat accumulation. But here, higher glucagon was linked to *less* liver fat, challenging the idea that glucagon is always harmful in diabetes.
Practical Takeaways
For people with mild type 2 diabetes, reducing carbohydrate intake to around 9% of calories may help reduce liver fat and improve metabolic health.
Publication
Journal
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
Year
2025
Authors
Barbara A Gower, Marian L Yurchishin, Amy M Goss, John Knight, W. T. Garvey
Related Content
Claims (4)
If you have mild type 2 diabetes, cutting carbs way down — even without changing your calorie intake — might cut liver fat by nearly a third in just three months.
If you're an adult with mild type 2 diabetes, switching to a keto diet for 12 weeks might lower a fat in your blood linked to liver fat, more than a low-fat diet would.
If someone has mild type 2 diabetes, how much fat builds up in their liver might be linked to how their pancreas hormones are balancing each other — when liver fat goes up, the hormone balance shifts the other way, and vice versa.
Your liver makes its own sugar when you don’t eat carbs for a long time, and this process doesn’t hurt your liver or cause damage.