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Recent research suggests a potential link between the diabetes drug pioglitazone and a reduced risk of dementia in people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. The study, led by Dr. Eosu Kim from Yonsei University, analyzed data from 91,218 participants over an average of 10 years, showing that those taking pioglitazone were 16% less likely to develop dementia. This percentage rose to 37% in those taking the drug for four years. The effect was more pronounced in people with a history of ischemic heart disease or stroke. A study in the Neurology journal suggests that the diabetes drug pioglitazone may...

A new study shows patients newly diagnosed with type-2 diabetes fare better when they are given a 3-drug combination compared to conventional therapy with one anti-diabetic medication. The finding that comes from researchers at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio was presented June 22 at the 73rd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.Ralph DeFronzo, M.D., chief of the Diabetes Division in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio presented findings from a two-year study that included 134 participants at the University Health System's Texas Diabetes Institute.The...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Actos, a medicine that treats adult onset diabetes, also prevented the development of the disease in more than 70 percent of people who are considered high risk, according to findings announced Wednesday. The results could help tens of millions of pre-diabetics in the world, including 40 million Americans, who are considered high risk because of excessive weight, ethnicity or other predispositions. An Actos (pioglitazone) pill taken each morning prevented the onset of Type 2 (adult) diabetes in 72 percent of the 602 high-risk participants in the study, whose findings were published in the New England Journal of...

By now, readers of Obesity Panacea (which just celebrated its 1 year anniversary!) have hopefully learned that excess weight is not directly predictive of health risk, and that excess fat mass is not in itself unhealthy. Recall that approximately 30% of individuals who are classified as obese by their body weight turn out to be metabolically healthy, and in fact seem not to get much metabolic benefit (or may even get worse) when they lose weight. Also consider that individuals who have NO fat tissue (e.g. lipodystrophy) have extremely elevated metabolic risk factors, meanwhile others who can apparently indefinitely grow...

A molecular pathway could explain how a class of drugs leads to heart failure. Researchers who study how tumours balloon in size have discovered one way that enlargement of the heart can lead to heart failure. The work, although mostly done in mice, could help explain why a class of diabetes drugs called thiazolidinediones (TZDs) increase the risk of heart failure.These drugs have been controversial since a 2007 analysis1 of Avandia (rosiglitazone), a TZD made by GlaxoSmithKline, suggested that patients taking it are at increased risk of heart attack. Less controversial are data linking TZDs with heart failure, a distinct...