Improved plasma lipids and body weight in overweight/obese patients with type III hyperlipoproteinemia after 4 weeks on a low glycemic diet.

Background & Aim: The optimal diet for type III hyperlipoproteinemia is unknown. We examined blood lipids and body weight following low or high glycemic index diets in comparison with a lipid-lowering diet.
Materials and Methods: Sixteen overweight/obese men completed a cross-over study where they followed a standard lipid-lowering diet, a high and a low glycemic index diet, each lasting 4 weeks. Measurements were obtained at the end of each diet intervention.
Results: The lipid-lowering diet reduced significantly LDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B by 24%, and 17%, whereas high glycemic index increased LDL cholesterol with 21%. The low glycemic index diet reduced (p<0.05) total and LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B compared with the lipid-lowering diet. A moderate weight loss (p<0.05) was achieved after the lipid-lowering diet compared with baseline: 1.4 (-3.6-0.2; median, 95% CI) kg and similar to that after high glycemic index diet. A low glycemic index diet resulted in 2.4 (-3.9-1.4) kg weight loss compared with the high glycemic index diet (p<0.05).
Conclusion: A low glycemic index diet may be superior to that of a standard lipid-lowering diet in type III hyperlipoproteinemia.