Diabetes News

More than 30 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, and 90 to 95% are type 2, the CDC says, and metformin is the fourth-most prescribed drug in the United States.

Heart disease occurs an average of 15 years earlier in people with diabetes, and is their main cause of illness and death. In women, the connection between diabetes and heart disease is particularly strong.

New technologies designed to improve blood sugar management often cost too much for people to afford.

The FDA granted a new use for diabetes drug Farxiga (dapagliflozin): to reduce the risk of hospitalization for heart failure in adults who have type 2 diabetes and established heart disease or risk factors for it.

The device combines an insulin pump, a continuous glucose monitor and a computer algorithm.

After losing weight with a yearlong intervention, blood sugar and blood pressure levels go down and cholesterol results improve. People who kept at least 75% of that weight off for another three years retained or had even greater health benefits, the study reported.

This experimental pill can withstand the trip through the gastrointestinal tract, scientists report. When it gets to the small intestine, it breaks down into dissolving microneedles that attach to the intestinal wall and release the drug into the bloodstream.

Researchers found that losing just 10% of your body weight during the first five years you have the disease can lead to remission of type 2 diabetes.

Older, sicker patients tend to be the ones most likely to still be using insulin to manage their blood sugar, despite guidelines that suggest it's often safer to lower diabetes treatment intensity with age.

Minorities should probably be screened even if they have a normal body mass index, particularly as they get older.

The drug, Rybelsus (semaglutide) is the first pill in a class of drugs called glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) approved for use in the United States. Before Rybelsus, the drug had to be injected.

The review found that people who had a bit of alcohol daily had lower levels of a type of blood fat called triglycerides. But alcohol didn't seem to lower blood sugar levels in people who already had type 2 diabetes, the review found.

The German study found that each additional 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) of height was linked to a 41% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in men and a 33% lower risk in women.

For the study, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers analyzed data on diabetes care in the United States from 2005 through 2016. The investigators found that one in four adults with diabetes was not diagnosed, and nearly one in three was not receiving appropriate care for diabetes.

People who ate a mostly plant-based diet reduced their risk of diabetes by 23%, the study found.

Diabetes brings with it a variety of long-term complications, but at least one of those -- heart failure -- is a bigger threat to women than men, new research suggests.

Insulin prices have skyrocketed in recent years, putting diabetes patients who desperately need it in a bind.

The FDA has recalled certain Medtronic MiniMed insulin pumps because there’s a risk of them being hacked, the agency said.

The data suggest a need for even better blood sugar management in children with type 1 diabetes, but kids in the study were -- on average -- doing well in and out of school, one researcher noted.

After nearly three years, 24.2% of those taking vitamin D developed diabetes, as did 26.7% of those taking the placebo. This difference isn't statistically significant, researchers said.

People who had type 2 diabetes in their 40s or 50s had a 30% greater chance of a stroke caused by a blood clot, researchers said.

The study findings suggest it might be more important to control other risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and unhealthy weight.

Possible reasons for the decline include changes in testing and getting people to make healthy lifestyle changes before they develop diabetes, the AP reported.

The company's generic version of its Humalog U-100 is being sold under the chemical name insulin lispro,

The genes identified in the study and the proteins they encode are potential targets for new diabetes medicines, and may help improve understanding and treatment of the disease, according to the study authors.