You can fight diabetes, one step at a time. An alarming new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in three Americans could have diabetes by the year 2050. The number is “just” one in ten now, and its price tag of nearly $200 billion per year is already straining […]

The news yesterday that FDA is putting tighter restrictions on Avandia (rosiglitazone), the diabetes drugs, was important but not surprising. In July, an advisory panel to the agency took a rather dim view of the drug.  Ten of the 32 votes were for increased warnings and tighter restrictions, and 12 were for pulling the drug off the market completely (which is what European regulators decided to […]

Rosiglitazone (Avandia) should be used only by people who can’t control their diabetes other ways, the FDA said today. Across the Atlantic, the European Medicines Agency ordered rosiglitazone off the market until its maker, GlaxoSmithKline, can supply “convincing data” that there exists a group of people with diabetes for whom the blood-sugar-lowering benefit of taking rosiglitazone […]

There are other conditions besides arthritis that can make walking difficult and even painful, such as peripheral artery disease, chronic venous insufficiency, lumbar spinal stenosis, and diabetic neuropathy.

Two studies conclude that men with diabetes have a lower risk of prostate cancer than nondiabetics, suggesting a potential biological link between the conditions.

Learn to manage your triglyceride levels to avoid having a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

Lifestyle and Drug Therapies Effectively Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes affects approximately 8% of adults in the United States. An additional 10 million Americans are at high risk for the disease. This type of diabetes begins gradually, later in life. Most people with type 2 diabetes produce plenty of insulin, but their tissues resist the action of the hormone, so their blood sugar levels rise; some people develop the disease as their insulin production gradually slows down.

Although treatment may prevent some complications of type 2 diabetes, which can include atherosclerosis, vision impairment, and nerve damage, it cannot eliminate the condition altogether. As a result, prevention of type 2 diabetes remains preferable. In a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), researchers from the Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group sought to determine whether lifestyle intervention or drug treatment could be used to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Research we’re watching

The American Diabetes Association counsels women with diabetes to follow the recommendations for alcohol consumption that apply to most adult women: a drink a day is fine, especially because it may reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. A new analysis by a team of Chinese researchers indicates that the same drink could reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the first place.

The researchers poured over 26 studies on alcohol and diabetes that involved 706,716 people, over half of whom were women. They determined that compared with teetotalers, light drinkers (those who averaged up to one drink a day) had a 17% lower risk of developing diabetes, and that those who averaged one to two drinks daily had a 26% lower risk. However, alcohol consumption heavier than that had little or no effect on diabetes risk. When they broke down the data further, they found that the benefits of light to moderate drinking were greater for women than men.

News briefs

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Avoiding animal products and eating a plant-based diet is a great way to keep type 2 diabetes under control, according to a study published Oct. 30, 2018, in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. Researchers reviewed 11 studies (most of them randomized controlled trials, the gold standard in research) that included more than 400 mostly middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes. The average length of each study was about six months. People who followed a plant-based diet experienced significant improvements in blood sugar control, emotional health, quality of life, weight loss, and cholesterol levels, compared with people who did not follow plant-based diets. Some people who ate a plant-based diet were even able to reduce or eliminate their medications for diabetes control and high blood pressure. If you'd like to try the diet at home, focus on lots of vegetables, legumes (a must for protein and fiber), fruits, seeds, whole grains, and nuts. But don't stop taking any medications without talking to your doctor first.