A diabetic diet is a diet that is used by people with diabetes mellitus or high blood sugar to minimize symptoms and dangerous complications of long term elevations in blood sugar (i.e.: cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, obesity). Among guideline recommendations including the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and Diabetes UK, there is no consensus that one specific diet is better than others. This is due to a lack of long term high quality studies on this subject matter.

For overweight and obese people with diabetes, the most important aspect of any diet is that it results in loss of body fat. Losing body fat has been proven to improve blood glucose control and lower insulin levels. The most agreed-upon recommendation is for the diet to be low in sugar and refined carbohydrates, while relatively high in dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber. Likewise, people with diabetes may be encouraged to reduce their intake of carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index (GI), although the ADA and Diabetes UK note that further evidence for this recommendation is needed.  However in cases of hypoglycemia, they are advised to have food or drink that can raise blood glucose quickly, such as a sugary sports drink, followed by a long-acting carbohydrate (such as rye bread) to prevent risk of further hypoglycemia.

Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, and fiber. These foods have the greatest impact on blood sugar levels as once they are consumed they are broken down into sugars that absorbed in the small intestine.The American Diabetes Association (ADA) does not recommend a specific amount of carbohydrate consumption for diabetic diets. Although it is not recommended to use fructose as an added sweetener because it may adversely affect plasma lipids. There is no minimum required amount of daily dietary carbohydrates as the body can make glucose through various metabolic processes including gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis. The same is not true of the protein and fat as both contain constituent components that are essential and cannot be synthesized through human metabolism. The ADA also addresses the glycemic index and glycemic load of foods as they pertain to diabetics, but they decline to make specific recommendations due to the unclear clinical utility. However, meta-analyses including the most recent Cochrane Systematic Review have found that a low glycemic index diet results in better blood glucose control as measured by glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) as well as fewer hypoglycemic episodes,

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