Diet and diabetes: a cornerstone for therapy.

An appropriate diet represents the cornerstone for diabetes therapy. Diets that differ in their carbohydrate, lipid and protein content are used but the evidence of their effects on the long term is missing. Several confounding factors and compliance to diet render difficult the evaluation of the 'best diet' for diabetes. On a short run, however, useful indications can be obtained regarding the effective diets capable to optimize metabolic control in type 2 diabetes.