Diabetes Care, Vol 11, Issue 3 225-229, Copyright © 1988 by American Diabetes Association

ARTICLES

Effect of fat-free diet on insulin requirements in type I diabetes controlled with artificial beta-cell

FL Dunn and PB Carroll
Joslin Diabetes Center, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

We investigated the effect of eliminating calories derived from fat sources on postprandial and basal insulin requirements in five patients with type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. The patients were studied on a metabolic ward on two solid-food diets with similar quantities of carbohydrate and protein with or without the addition of fat. Diet A was isocaloric (weight maintenance) with calories distributed as 45% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 40% fat. Diet B contained the same carbohydrate and protein content as diet A but was virtually fat free and therefore hypocaloric (1233 +/- 106 vs. 1830 +/- 99 cal, mean +/- SE). The diets were given as five equal meals each day on consecutive days. Insulin requirements and blood glucose measurements were determined by use of the artificial beta-cell. During the study, mean (+/- SE) preprandial blood glucose levels were maintained at 85 +/- 11 mg/dl, and peak postprandial blood glucose levels were less than 180 mg/dl. The elimination of fat calories had no effect on total (68.9 +/- 10.3 vs. 69.3 +/- 4.9 U/day), postprandial (9.8 +/- 3.8 vs. 10.3 +/- 3.7 U/meal), or basal (1.9 +/- 0.2 vs. 1.8 +/- 0.2 U/h) insulin requirements. Thus, despite a hypocaloric diet, no change in insulin requirements was noted when fat-derived calories were deleted from the diet. We conclude that fat-derived calories do not alter short-term basal or postprandial insulin requirements in type I diabetes.
CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?