Diabetes Care, Vol 18, Issue 1 83-86, Copyright © 1995 by American Diabetes Association
A comparison of fish oil or corn oil supplements in hyperlipidemic subjects with NIDDM
WA Morgan, P Raskin and J Rosenstock
Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Texas Woman's University, Denton.
OBJECTIVE--To examine the effects on blood lipids and glycemic control of
fish oil and corn oil supplementation at two levels in subjects with
hyperlipidemia and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--Forty subjects (18 men and 22 women; aged 53.9
+/- 7.0 years) with NIDDM and hyperlipidemia were randomly assigned to one
of four treatment groups: 9 g of fish oil, 18 g of fish oil, 9 g of corn
oil, or 18 g of corn oil daily supplementation for 12 weeks. RESULTS--The
level of oil supplements (9 g compared with 18 g) did not have a
significant effect within each oil group on glycemic control and lipids.
Significant differences (P < 0.05) in lipids were found when the 9-g and
18-g groups were combined. In subjects consuming fish oil, plasma
very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol (P = 0.0001), plasma
triglyceride (TG) (P = 0.0001), and plasma VLDL TGs (P = 0.02 at 6 weeks
and P = 0.0001 at 12 weeks) were significantly lowered compared with
subjects consuming corn oil. Plasma VLDL cholesterol increased across time
in the corn oil group (P = 0.04). Plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
cholesterol was temporarily increased (P = 0.008) in the fish oil group at
6 weeks, but the effect was no longer present at 12 weeks. No significant
differences between fish oil- or corn oil-supplemented diets were found in
total plasma cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting
plasma glucose, glycosylated HbA1c, weight, and blood pressure.
CONCLUSIONS--In this study, fish oil supplementation improved plasma VLDL
cholesterol, VLDL TGs, and total TGs while having a transient deterioration
in LDL cholesterol in subjects with NIDDM. Furthermore, fish oil
supplementation had no significant deleterious effect on glycemic control.