Low-fat diets have harmful health effects on diabetic patients who have high blood pressure

This study was published in the American Journal of Hypertension 1990 Jul;3(7):527-32

Study title and authors:

Effect of low fat-high carbohydrate diets in hypertensive patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Fuh MM, Lee MM, Jeng CY, Ma F, Chen YD, Reaven GM.

Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Republic of China.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2194509

The effects of variations in dietary fat and carbohydrate content were evaluated in 11 patients with high blood pressure, who also had diabetes.

The diets, which lasted for 15 days were either:
(i) 60% carbohydrate, 20% protein, 20% fat (low fat diet).
(ii) 40% carbohydrate, 20% protein, 40% fat (high fat diet).

The study found:
(a) Blood glucose and insulin concentrations were significantly higher throughout the day when patients consumed the low fat diet, which may lead to adverse health effects.
(b) Levels of the harmful triglycerides increased by 30% after 15 days on the low fat diet.

This study reveals that a low-fat diet has harmful health effects on diabetic patients who have high blood pressure.