Increased arachidonic acid level in diabetic platelets following improvement in diabetic control.

A group of non-insulin dependent diabetics taking oral hypoglycaemic therapy were studied to determine the effect of improved diabetic control on the platelet levels of the prostaglandin precursor fatty acids. The patients were randomised to receive either a low carbohydrate diet (35% of total energy) for six weeks or a high carbohydrate diet (55% of total energy), high fibre diet for six weeks and the diets were then reversed. At the end of the high carbohydrate, high fibre diet the mean fasting blood glucose (6.6 mmol section 1) and mean percentage glycosylated haemoglobin (8.2%) were significantly lower than after the low carbohydrate diet (7.8. mmol/l, p less than 0.05: 9.9%, p less than 0.01). Mean platelet phospholipid arachidonic acid percentage was significantly higher after the high carbohydrate, high fibre diet (24.2%) than after the low carbohydrate diet (19.9%, p less than 0.01). There were no significant changes in the other platelet fatty acids.