Dietary intake and hyperlipidemia in controlled diabetic outpatients

Statistical analyses were performed in order to determine the effects of the control of the diabetes as well as the food intake on serum lipid levels of 73 diabetic outpatients. They had had elevated fasting blood glucose levels, mostly complicated by various grades of hyperlipidemia, before the initiation of treatment. Hyperlipidemia was found to be ameliorated in nearly half of those patients after the start of diabetic treatment. However, the elevation of serum triglyceride persisted in 30 per cent of controlled diabetics, and no differences were found in occurrence of hypertriglyceridemia between diet-treatment group, sulfonylurea group, biguanide group, combined group and insulin group. Estimation of diet intake revealed that the controlled hypertriglyceridemic patients consumed slightly (but significantly) greater amounts of sucrose, alcohol, and total calories than the controlled normotriglyceridemic patients. In addition to such inadequate diet consumptions, the tendency to be overweight and the subtle increment of fasting blood glucose levels were also shown to have contributed to hypertriglyceridemia. It is thus concluded that the lipid disorder in controlled diabetic outpatients is the result of multifactorial influences and that well-conducted diet therapy and stricter regulation of blood glucose are essential in the management of posttreatment hyperlipidemia.