Hyperlipidemia: forestalling complications in older diabetics.

Mild to moderate hypertriglyceridemia is not associated with specific signs or symptoms in either IDDM or NIDDM. However, symptoms of the "chylomicronemia syndrome," including abdominal pain and acute pancreatitis, can occur when poorly controlled diabetes is present in a patient with a familial form of hyperlipidemia. The low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet that was commonly recommended for diabetics during past years may have contributed to the elevated plasma LDL levels in some individuals. Such "diabetic diets" may also have played a role in the predisposition of diabetics toward atherosclerotic complications.