Research

Hormonal

Diet-induced weight loss in obese individuals with or without type 2 diabetes significantly increases plasma Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] levels, potentially antagonizing the cardiovascular benefits of conventional risk factor improvement.

If you are obese and have type 2 diabetes, losing weight through diet will likely improve your blood sugar and cholesterol, but it may also raise your Lipoprotein(a) levels. This rise is a known biological response to calorie restriction in this population and might partially cancel out the heart benefits of weight loss. You should still lose weight, but discuss monitoring your Lp(a) levels with your doctor to see if additional interventions are needed.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Diet-induced weight loss was accompanied by an increase in Lp(a) levels in obese individuals with and without type 2 diabetes while conventional CVD risk factors for CVD improved. This increase in Lp(a) levels may potentially antagonise the beneficial cardiometabolic effects of diet-induced weight reduction.
Kirsten A. Berk et al. · Diabetologia · 2017

Why this rating

Four independent cohorts with consistent findings, though observational nature of the diet effect limits causal certainty regarding long-term outcomes.

Source

Effect of diet-induced weight loss on lipoprotein(a) levels in obese individuals with and without type 2 diabetes

Kirsten A. Berk et al. · Diabetologia · 2017

DOI 10.1007/s00125-017-4246-y

cohort · n=224Cited 43×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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