It has already been reported that globin digest (GD) exerts a hypotriglyceridemic action in laboratory animals and humans. A tetrapeptide, Val-Val-Tyr-Pro, extracted from GD, has also been shown to be 7000-times more active than the parent GD. We studied the hypotriglyceridemic effect of GD in subjects with borderline hyperlipidemia. In normal subjects, 1g of GD showed sufficient hypotriglyceridemic action. When borderline hypertriglyceridemic subjects were administered 1g of GD as a beverage with 40g of fat, the increases in serum and chylomicron (CM) TGs at 1-5h after the administration were suppressed to 25-50% of the control values (without GD). The areas under the serum TG and CM-TG concentration curves (AUCs; 0-6h) were significantly decreased to about 40% of the control, respectively. GD enhanced the elimination rate constants of TG and CM-TG in borderline hypertriglyceridemic subjects, and showed a more effective hypotriglyceridemic action than in normal subjects. GD thus appears to be useful for prevention of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis in subjects with borderline hypertriglyceridemia.