Posted on 09/17/2006 6:57:42 PM PDT by neverdem
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The largest diabetes prevention study ever done has found that a drug already used to treat the disease also can help keep "pre-diabetics" from developing it. But many experts say losing weight and exercising remain a safer, cheaper approach.
The drug, rosiglitazone, or Avandia, appeared to cut the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by more than half, doctors reported Friday. Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes, afflicting more than 200 million people worldwide.
Avandia also helped restore normal blood-sugar function in many of those who took it.
A second part of the study found that a different drug, a blood pressure medication called ramipril, or Altace, made no difference in the risk of developing diabetes but helped normalize blood sugar for some.
The research was long awaited, and the Avandia results at first glance seem impressive. However, experts say it is difficult to determine how much of the improvement was the owing to the drug, because study volunteers also were counseled about healthy diets and lifestyles.
"We know that lifestyle changes alone can reduce the risk of developing diabetes by up to 58 percent," said Dr. Martin Abrahamson, medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, who had no ties to the study.
Those benefits come without the $90- to $170-a-month cost and side effects of Avandia, said Dr. Alvin Powers, director of diabetes research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who also had no role in the research.
"Fluid retention, congestive heart failure, and weight gain are known side effects of Avandia" when it's used to treat diabetes, Powers noted.
Results of the study were reported Friday at a diabetes meeting in Denmark. The Avandia findings were published online by the British medical journal The Lancet; the Altace results were posted online by the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was paid for by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and companies that make the drugs. (GlaxoSmithKline PLC makes Avandia; Sanofi-Aventis SA and King Pharmaceuticals market Altace.) Some study leaders consult for the companies.
The aim was preventing Type 2 diabetes, the form that is linked to obesity and sometimes leads to kidney failure, amputations and death. It occurs when the body does not make enough insulin or cannot effectively use what it manages to produce.
Research suggests that as many as half of pre-diabetics develop diabetes within three years.
Still, some doctors were encouraged by Avandia's potential.
"This underscores the fact that diabetes is preventable, and that we might have another means to do that with," said Dr. Peter Sheehan, director of diabetes at the Cabrini Medical Center in New York, who had no ties to the study.
Dr. Jeffrey Probstfield, a University of Washington professor who led the U.S. portion of the study, said he would advise pre-diabetics to try the drug.
"I'm a strict adherent to the lifestyle approach," but the drug adds one more tool people can use to avoid a deadly and disabling disease, he said.
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LOL!
What I do is make up a cup of Earl Gray tea, toss in some splenda, and add a full teaspoon of the good spice! Also add it to oatmeal...
I'm not sure if pharmacies still sell empty gelatin capsules, maybe your local organic food stores still do...
You've met your first, then. I don't like the taste of cinnamon, which I can tolerate in only small amounts such as on cooked apple dishes.
All the same, what form and dosage does your wife use? If I can cut and swallow an equivalent dose of cinnamon stick ... I prefer holistic supplements to expensive prescription medications.
I take prescribed medication and fish oil pills to treat HBP and balance cholesterols, and treat T2 diabetes through diet, all at the direction of my doctor.
120, You might want to do some research, my doctor says that is waaay too low. Your brain runs on colestrol, I don't know about you, but my brain doesn't work well enough when it's well fed.
I also sprinkle a bit on top of the coffee grounds with a grain or two of salt & nutmeg before brewing.
It also causes quite a bit of weight gain
Get yourself some cod liver oil (lemon or peach flavored) and try taking a couple tsp a day.....that might help the HDL...
I add cinnamon to my morning coffee.....dump in about a tsp, then add the coffee....stir....than make sure I drink the good stuff at the bottom.
So, it's not just a potential "side effect" ~ you can induce a heart attack simply switching from one drug to the other.
I am a physician. I'd say your friend had underlying coronary artery disease and bad luck if he had a myocardial infarction. The timing was an untimely co-incidence.
If he had an episode of congestive heart failure, which is not the same diagnosis, that was probably due to just the Avandia. Avandia interacts with a number of other drugs, but the only adverse effect that I would expect the combination of Avandia and metformin is hypoglycemia. I would be wary of what I find on the internet. I just scanned rosiglitazone and metformin, adverse effects on PubMed. You're welcome to see what I missed.
see post 29
Doc,
What do you think about the cinnamon "therapy"? Does it sound safe and/or reasonable to try?
Thanks for that imput!
It's a dish of calzone with roses and glitter on top.
I have been buying whole flax seed (I can get it at Longs for ~ $3.75/ 2lb bag.) I grind up about 1/2 cup (in a coffee grinder) every few days. I go through 4 lbs in a little under 3 months, which works out to about 3/4 oz. per day. I mix it in a protein shake in the morning and put some on my salad in the evening.
I have been using it for about four months and I am really surprised at what it has done for my skin. Seems like it took ten years off. Maintaining a tropical tan helps too... well, at least until it pays me back in a few years, lol. :-)
/thread hijack
I took Avandia for several months and had every bad reaction possible. Within a few days after I stopped, all was well again. Now primarily on Metformin ER, which is better tolerated than the regular.
Also use at least a full teaspoon cinnamon in my morning coffee mix.
I think I had that at a wedding reception!
Thanks
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