Paleolithic diet as a potential dietary management option for type 2 diabetes: A scoping review

Background and aims Despite its prevalence in the media, uncertainty surrounds the effectiveness of the paleolithic diet for the management of type 2 diabetes. Our scoping review aims to assess the efficacy of the paleolithic diet in managing body weight, glycemia, and lipidemia in comparison to recommended diets for type 2 diabetes management. Methods and results We conducted searches in Medline, Scopus, Embase, and CINAHL to identify pertinent randomized controlled trials up to Mar 2024. Our review incorporated 3 reports from 2 randomized controlled trials involving 37 Caucasian participants. Comparative analysis of the paleolithic diet against recommended diabetic diets revealed encouraging outcomes, manifesting in the improvement of glycemic and lipid profiles in type 2 diabetes patients. However, there were mixed results in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Conclusions Paleolithic diet hints at potentially favorable effects on type 2 diabetes, but evidence is severely limited. Rigorously designed larger trials evaluating distinct paleolithic diets on clinical outcomes while monitoring safety and feasibility are critically needed before making recommendations. Registration This scoping review has been registered at https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero as CRD42021226788.