Cholesterol metabolism in diabetes. I. The effect of diabetic control on sterol balance.

To evaluate the effect of diabetic control on sterol balance, five subjects (one with fasting chylomicronemia) were studied when they had little control of blood glucose (period I) and, continuously, when increased insulin dosage improved diabetic control (period II). The four subjects with no chylomicronemia showed a diminished fecal bile acid (FBA) excretion. Although fecal neutral steroid excretion increased variably, the total steroid balance was unchanged. The results support the concept that good control of diabetes shifts the fecal steroid excretion towards diminished FBA, but steroid balance methods did not reveal an effect of insulin on total steroid balance.