High-fibre diets for diabetic and hypertriglyceridemic patients.

Diets high in complex carbohydrate result in lower insulin requirements than the high-fat diets conventionally used to treat diabetes. Accompanying unacceptable increases in fasting triglyceride levels can be overcome by increasing the fibre content of the diet. In diabetics a diet providing 70% of energy from carbohydrate and containing 35 to 40 g of fibre per 1000 Cal will rapidly reduce the plasma glucose level and the requirement for insulin or sulfonylurea. It will also lower the serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in individuals with hypertriglyceridemia. These improvements are maintained in patients following a modified high-carbohydrate, high-fibre diet providing 55% to 60% of energy by carbohydrate (75% of which is complex), 15% to 20% by protein and 20% to 30% by fat, with 25 g of plant fibre per 1000 Cal. With long-term use (for up to 48 months) of the maintenance diets patients maintained or corrected their body weight, and no nutritional deficiencies were observed.