Medications to prevent diabetes

Millions of people at high risk of diabetes can avoid the disease through a drug commonly used to treat it .

This drug, Rosiglitazone or Avandia, is used for three years to reduce the risk of diabetes by 62%. This is a drug belonging to the thiazolidinediones group, currently being used to treat diabetes once diagnosed.

(Photo: TTO) The diabetes study was conducted on 5,269 people aged 30 and older from 191 regions in 21 countries. All are showing signs of ' prediabetes ' or blood sugar abnormalities, indicating that half of them will develop type 2 diabetes within 3 years.

Participants took Rosiglitazone and followed the advice of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Within 3 years, only 12% of Rosiglitazone users had diabetes, compared with 26% of those who received the placebo. Rosiglitazone was also found to return glucose levels back to normal in 51% of participants compared to 30% with placebo.

Rosiglitazone's beneficial effects are found in all patients, most notably in people who are overweight.

However, scientists also note the side effects of the drug: it can pose a low risk of heart failure - a curable and non-fatal disease; beneficial for fat distribution .

Research conducted by scientists at the Institute of People's Health Research in Hamilton (Ontario, Canada), was reported at the annual meeting of the European Diabetes Research Association in Copenhagen (Denmark) on June 16. 9.

T.VY