Abstract

To assess the effects of diet on symptoms in patients with idiopathic reactive hypoglycemia, we obtained by dietary recall histories the dietary composition from eight of these patients. The data obtained represented the dietary content of each individual before and after instruction on a diet containing 100 gm of carbohydrate daily. Neither the percentage of carbohydrate or fat nor the total grams of protein or fat changed significantly after dietary instruction. In contrast, the percentage of refined carbohydrate decreased (P = .003) and the percentage of protein increased (P = .003). The total grams of refined carbohydrate and total carbohydrate both decreased significantly (P = .01 and .05, respectively), but the fall in refined carbohydrate (from 147 to 20 gm) accounted for the entire fall in total dietary carbohydrate. All values except those of refined carbohydrate were within 95% confidence limits of the average diet in Western culture. Despite continuing intake of a normal quantity of total carbohydrate (mean, 221 gm), all patients had symptomatic improvement. These data suggest that reducing the amount of dietary refined carbohydrate may be important in the treatment of idiopathic reactive hypoglycemia, and that quantitative reduction in total carbohydrate may be of lesser importance.