This week we have an item about the increased use of gastric sleeve for weight reduction and the reversal of diabetes. This newer procedure is actually becoming preferred for overweight patients. Although this may sound like a similar device to a Lap Band it is actually a significant surgery where …

FDA Approves Weight Loss Drug Contrave. See this week’s Item #4. FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Approval of Novo Nordisk’s liraglutide (used now as Victoza to treat type 2 diabetes ) for use in chronically obese patients with at least one weight-related health issue. More news to come. The new drug would be …

"Lifestyle intervention (weight control, stop smoking and healthy diet, etc.) should be suggested earlier and recommended as the mainstay of treatment for prediabetes in the general population," said researcher Dr. Yuli Huang, who also said data on the effects of treatment with metformin are needed. See this week’s Item #1.

A study found diabetes patients were more than twice as likely as people without the disease to exhibit elevated troponin levels. Researchers also found diabetes patients had a six fold increased odds of dying from heart failure and were four times as likely to die of a heart attack during …

Diabetes patients who took statins had lower odds of developing diabetes-related nerve and retinal damage compared with nonusers, according to a study of data involving more than 60,000 patients in Denmark. Statin use was also associated with reduced risk of gangrene. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Sept. 9, 2014 

The meta-analysis also showed risks for certain cancers increased 22% with a prediabetes diagnosis…. 

Higher BMI increased individuals’ risks for 10 common cancers, according to results of a population-based cohort study conducted in the UK….

A long-term UK study revealed that in order to prevent poorer health outcomes, changes need to be made to the current way of diagnosing patients with type 2 diabetes…. 

The FDA first rejected the drug combination in February 2011, asking the company to conduct a cardiovascular-outcomes trial because of concerns about the CV safety profile of bupropion/naltrexone when used long-term in a population of overweight and obese subjects…. 

Methazolamide, proven in a study to be beneficial in diabetes treatment, could be the archetype for a new class of agents used to treat type 2 diabetes and related conditions….