A main finding from the current study is that prolonged caloric restriction by a 16-week VLCD in obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hepatic steatosis, which considerably reduces hepatic TG content (−85%) (11), also markedly decreases plasma CETP concentration (−18.2%). This observation corroborates our recent finding that a reduction of the hepatic lipid content (−30.5%), as induced by pioglitazone, also associates with a reduction in plasma CETP concentration (−11.6%) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (10). However, the potency of prolonged caloric restriction to reduce hepatic lipid content and plasma CETP concentration exceeds that of pioglitazone treatment considerably.