(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Diabetics now have a new reason to cut back on sugars and starches. A new study found that a low-carb diet might help reverse kidney damage in people who have type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

For the first time, researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that the ketogenic diet, which is a specialized high-fat and low-carb diet, may help reverse kidney failure. For the study, Charles Mobbs, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience and Geriatrics and Palliative Care Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and his colleagues analyzed mice that were genetically predisposed to have diabetes. The mice also developed kidney failure. Half of the mice were put on the ketogenic diet, while the other half maintained a high-carb diet. After eight weeks, kidney failure was reversed in the mice on the ketogenic diet.

“Knowing how the ketogenic diet reverses nephropathy (kidney damage) will help us identify a drug target and subsequent pharmacological interventions that mimic the effect of the diet,” Dr. Mobbs was quoted as saying.

Researchers say since the diet comes with extreme requirements, it is not a long-term solution in adults. However, they estimate that following the diet for as little as a month may be enough to reset the gene expression and pathological process that leads to failed kidneys.

The researchers also found a previously unreported panel of genes linked to diabetes-related kidney failure, whose expression was reversed by the diet.

Dr. Mobbs believes the diet could also help treat other neurological diseases. The National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation helped fund the study.

SOURCE: PLoS ONE, April 20, 2011