Type 2 diabetics can now control their blood sugar without gaining weight or increasing their insulin doses, say researchers according to a new study. In an effort to achieve near normal control of blood sugar research has resulted in a variety of drugs that lower blood sugar levels while improving blood pressure and lipid levels in the blood. Despite these advances, diabetics have had a difficult time controlling their weight.
Researchers analyzed the safety and effectiveness of triple therapy using insulin, metformin (Glucophage) -- an FDA-approved drug for type 2 diabetes -- and a drug in the thiazolidinedione family, which lowers the blood sugar by increasing the sensitivity of cells to insulin. Researchers say they anticipated that the triple therapy would better control blood-sugar levels, but they never imagined that the patients would not gain weight .Patients with type 2 diabetics who use drug therapy typically take insulin and only one of the drugs often succeed at lowering their blood sugar below recommended levels, but they also tend to gain weight and usually have to increase their insulin doses.
In the study, all 28 patients who used triple therapy reduced their blood sugar levels below 7 percent -- the level recommended by the American Diabetes Association -- without increasing insulin. It was also seen that patients who used insulin and metformin followed by the thiazolidinedione actually showed a slight decrease in weight along with lowering blood sugar.Also, almost 60 percent of participants, regardless of what order the drugs were taken, reduced their blood sugar levels below 6 percent.
