Background: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCD) is the first cause of morbidity and mortality at type 2 diabetes. The typical dyslipidemia that is associated with insulin resistance, which includes a postprandial elevation of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs) with excess of intestinal triglyceride-rich-lipoprotein-apoB48 (TRL-apoB48), is felt to play an important role in the accelerated ASCD. Recently, intestinal TRL-apoB48 overproduction appeared as a newly recognized component of insulin resistance. Despite ample evidence supporting the delayed clearance of intestinal TRL-apoB48, there is only a limited amount of information in the literature regarding the factors modulating the production of intestinal TRL-apoB48 in the setting of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Several arguments suggest that the intestine is not a "passive" organ with respect to lipoprotein production, but an organ metabolically active, receiving information from intestinal lumen and blood and able to modulate its syntheses and its lipid secretions according to the substrata, to the insulin or to other substances. There are functional relationships between the intestine and the liver. For example, it has been recently shown that acute elevation of plasma free fatty acids (FFA) in humans stimulates intestinal TRL-apoB48 and hepatic TRL-apoB100 production.