“…At baseline and after 10 weeks of treatment, blood samples were collected at the outpatient clinic in the morning after overnight fasting for measurement of the following parameters: HbA 1c , 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol (1,5-AG), glucose, insulin, glucagon, non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), total cholesterol, TG, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein AI, apolipoprotein AII, apolipoprotein B (ApoB), apolipoprotein CII, apolipoprotein CIII, apolipoprotein E, apolipoprotein B48 (ApoB-48), remnantlike particle cholesterol (RLP-C), aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and creatinine. A high-performance liquid chromatography (HLC-723 G8; Tosoh, Tokyo, Japan) system was used to measure HbA 1c according to the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry reference standard methods [12], and HbA 1c values are therefore shown as National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program equivalent values in this study. 1,5-AG levels were measured using the enzymatic method with the "Lana AG" column-enzyme assay kit (Nippon Kayaku Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) [13].…”