American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 27, 22-28, Copyright © 1974 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Effect of clofibrate on plasma glucose and serum immunoreactive insulin in patients with hyperlipoproteinemia

¹ From the Arteriosclerosis Research Laboratory and The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Queens Hospital Center Affiliation of The Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center, and The Department of Medicine Affiliation of the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens, Jamaica, New York 11432

The effects of clofibrate on plasma glucose, serum immunoreactive insulin, and free fatty acid levels were studied in 31 patients. In four subjects with normal serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels, the administration of the drug (2 g daily for 21 days) resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the mean plasma glucose (P < 0.025) and mean serum immunoreactive insulin (P < 0.025) levels after 2 and 3 hr, respectively, during an oral 3-hr glucose tolerance test. In 12 hypercholesterolemic patients (type II), mean plasma glucose was reduced by the drug to statistically significant levels in the fasting state, after 0.5 hr, and after 1 hr (P < 0.05) during an oral 3-hour glucose tolerance test. Mean serum immunoreactive insulin was reduced to statistically significant levels after 0.5 hr and 1 hr (P < 0.05) during a 3-hr glucose tolerance test in the same patients. Fifteen patients with either elevated levels of serum triglycerides or serum triglycerides and cholesterol (types IIb, IV, or V) experienced statistically significant reductions of mean plasma glucose (P < 0.025) and mean serum immunoreactive insulin (P < 0.025) in the fasting state and after 0.5 hr, respectively, during a 3-hr glucose tolerance test following administration of clofibrate. The effect of clofibrate on mean serum free fatty acids was similar although more pronounced in the two hyperlipidemic groups.