This past week I got to catch up with our good pal Phil Sutherland. Many of you know that Phil has worked hard to grab worldwide attention for athletes with diabetes. He is the founder of Team NovoNordisk, a Tour de France quality professional cycling team. All of the team …

New alert issued for type 2 patients taking saxagliptin (Onglyza, AstraZeneca) and alogliptin (Nesina, Takeda).

Marked increase found at age 12.

Six-month regimen of 30 mg zinc sulfate once daily found effective compared with those on placebo, according to study.

Are some leisure-time activities more helpful than others in lowering blood glucose?

Team Novo Nordisk’s Italian sprinter, Andrea Peron, rode in the main breakaway at the 107th edition of Milan-San Remo for the second consecutive year. The 293-kilometer race is the longest one-day race in the world.

Overall prevalence of diabetes may have increased, but undiagnosed diabetes may be declining.

Mr. Carlson is a 52-year-old Caucasian grocery store manager you saw last week for a new patient visit. His labs from that visit were significant for elevated random plasma glucose 166 mg/dL, A1C 7.4% and elevated lipids (TG=175 mg/dL, LDL 148 mg/dL, HDL 38 mg/dL, total cholesterol 221 mg/dL). He has returned to your clinic for a follow-up appointment. His physical exam is notable for central abdominal obesity (waist circumference 42”), left eyelid xanthelasma, BP 147/91, HR 72, RR 18, BMI 36 kg/m2, but otherwise normal. A repeat A1C test shows A1C 7.6%. Mr. Carlson smokes between 1 and 1.5 packs of cigarettes daily. After discussing the labs and your findings with Mr. Carlson, you begin collaborating on a management plan. You write prescriptions for metformin, a statin and ACE inhibitor. Mr. Carlson doesn’t think “taking medication will be too tough,” but expresses skepticism about your recommendations for a change in his diet, exercise and smoking programs because he has tried them, without success, in the past. You are concerned about Mr. Carlson’s cigarette use because cigarette smoking has been shown to have multiple physiological impacts on health. Which one of the following statements regarding smoking and type 2 diabetes is true? A. It equally affects all-cause mortality in individuals with and without diabetes. B. In individuals with diabetes, it causes more rapid progression to micro- and macroalbuminuria. C. It has not been linked to worsening glycemic control. D. The use of bupropion is contraindicated in diabetes. Think you've got the right answer? Follow the link to check!

For your patients with prediabetes (A1c of 5.7 to 6.4%), do you recommend they begin metformin even with providing them info on physical activity and nutrition? Follow the link to express your opinion!

Take bone density, history of osteoporosis into consideration when prescribing.