The effect of a low-carbohydrate diet on evoked pain and quality of life in Non-Hispanic black women with knee osteoarthritis: a pilot study

Wiggins AM, Strath LJ, McPherson GE, Gower BA, Goss AM, Goodin BR, Sorge RE · BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Follow-up to the 2020 trial in the group that reported the largest benefit there. Daily pain, pain interference, stiffness, physical functioning, depressive symptoms, food knowledge and food security all changed significantly, and evoked pain fell on the timed-walk and chair-stand tasks. Registered as a healthcare intervention rather than run as a controlled trial.

Population

Fourteen non-Hispanic Black women, mean age 56, with knee osteoarthritis

Intervention

A 6-week low-carbohydrate diet

Comparator

None — within-subject, baseline versus 3 and 6 weeks

Limitations

Fourteen people with no control group and no blinding, so every reported change includes regression to the mean, attention and expectation. Registered NCT04343716. Its value is in extending the observation to a population the parent trial under-sampled, not in confirming it.