Low fat diets increase the risk of heart disease in diabetics

This study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and  Metabolism 1993 Feb;76(2):347-51

Study title and authors:

Effect of variations in dietary fat and carbohydrate intake on postprandial lipemia in patients with noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Chen YD, Swami S, Skowronski R, Coulston AM, Reaven GM.

Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, California.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8432777

The effect of dietary composition on concentrations of triglyceride levels was studied in eight patients with type II diabetes. In the study two diets were consumed by each patient for two weeks.

The diets consisted of:
(i) 60% carbohydrate, 15% protein, 25% fat (low fat diet).
(ii) 45% carbohydrate, 15% protein, 40% fat (high fat diet).

The study found that triglyceride levels were higher after the low-fat (high carbohydrate) diet, and as high triglyceride levels are associated with an increased risk of heart disease, the low-fat diet should not be consumed by patients with type II diabetes.

Links to other studies:
Low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets, similar in composition to the recommendations of the American Diabetes Association, have deleterious health effects when consumed by patients with type 2 diabetes
High-fat, carbohydrate-restricted diets are a superior treatment option for type 2 diabetes compared to a low-calorie, low fat diet
LDL cholesterol size: does it matter?