Get Healthy!

Babies born to fathers who were taking the common diabetes drug metformin may have a slightly increased risk of certain birth defects, a large new study suggests.

Among over 1 million babies born in Denmark, just over 3% had a birth defect of some kind. But that rate was roughly 5% among babies whose fathers ...

Katherine Stewart, 16, must take six to 10 insulin shots a day to properly manage her type 1 diabetes.

Her Highland, Utah, family pays $500 a month out of pocket for her insulin. Before they meet their insurance's deductible, they shell out the cash price of nearly $2,000 a month.

Now Stewart is preparing to leave the nest, and she doesn't know how she'll be able to afford it.

A drug widely used to treat osteoporosis might reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests.

Taking the drug alendronate (Fosamax) for at least eight years could potentially reduce a person's risk of type 2 diabetes by more than half, compared to people never prescribed the drug, according to findings presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the European Association for the S...

Metformin, a commonly prescribed diabetes drug, may help stave off preterm birth among women who develop pregnancy-related high blood pressure.

Preeclampsia is marked by a sudden spike in blood pressure, protein in urine, or other problems during pregnancy. Preterm preeclampsia occurs between 26 and 32 weeks of pregnancy and often leads to early delivery, putting babies at risk. Preemies ...

Older adults who take certain diabetes drugs may see a slower decline in their memory and thinking skills, a new study suggests.

Researchers in South Korea found that among older people who'd been having memory issues, those using diabetes drugs called DDP-4 inhibitors typically showed a slower progression in those symptoms over the next few years. That was compared with both diabetes-fre...

As many Americans know, today's health insurance plans often come with high deductibles. Those out-of-pocket costs could cause harm: New research shows that 20% of people who have diabetes and high-deductible health plans regularly skip their medications.

Not keeping up with your diabetes medications comes with the potential risk of an emergency room visit or a hospitalization.

U.S. pharmacists will now be able to automatically substitute a cheaper biosimilar for a more expensive brand-name insulin, the U.S Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.

The agency's approval of an "interchangeable" biosimilar could save diabetics and health plans millions each year, the Associated Press reported. Until now, doctors have had to specifically prescribe ...

TUESDAY, June 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) --Walmart said Tuesday that it will start selling its own private brand of insulin at much lower prices than competing products.

Insulin prices have skyrocketed in recent years, making it unaffordable for some Americans with diabetes, according to CBS News.

"We know many people with diabetes struggle to manage the financial burden of ...

You have type 2 diabetes, and you are already taking an old standby drug, metformin. But you still need help controlling your blood sugar levels. Which medication would be the best?

New research pitted several diabetes drugs against each other and came up with an answer: The diabetes drugs Lantus and Victoza were better at controlling blood sugar over time than Amaryl or Januvia.

"W...

People with type 2 diabetes face heightened risks for heart attack and stroke, as well as progressive kidney disease. But a new once-a-week injected drug called efpeglenatide could greatly reduce their odds for those outcomes, new research shows.

The clinical trial was conducted in over 28 nations and involved more than 4,000 patients with type 2 diabetes.

Over two years, patients ...

Hospitalized patients with diabetes who hadn't been taking their medication had more severe cases of COVID-19, a new study shows.

"Our results highlight the importance of assessing, monitoring and controlling blood glucose [sugar] in hospitalized COVID-19 patients from the start," said study author Sudip Bajpeyi, associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at El Paso. H...

After years of improvement, Americans with diabetes may be losing some ground in controlling the condition, a new government-funded study shows.

Researchers found that between 1999 and the early 2010s, U.S. adults with diabetes made substantial gains: A growing percentage had their blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol down to recommended levels.

Since then, the picture has ch...

Researchers have discovered that when patients who have type 2 diabetes and asthma take a certain class of medication to control their blood sugar, their asthma symptoms also improved.

Not only could this help diabetes patients who may have less asthma control on asthma medicines, but it could potentially open up new treatment options for those who don't have diabetes.

The study sho...

Widely used diabetes and obesity drugs don't increase the risk of breast cancer, a new study indicates.

The drugs -- called glucagon like peptide-1 receptor agonists or GLP-1 RAs for short -- are effective in treating type 2 diabetes and obesity and in reducing heart disease. But some previous studies have suggested a possible link between them and breast cancer.

GLP-1RAs include al...

Just two weeks of treatment with an experimental drug can delay the onset of type 1 diabetes by several years, researchers report.

The drug, called teplizumab, is already under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration based on earlier evidence of its effectiveness.

If it gets the green light, it would become the first drug approved for delaying type 1 diabetes in high-risk pe...

Doctors need to do a better job of discussing low blood sugar with patients who take high-risk diabetes medications such as insulin, researchers say.

Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) is the most common serious side effect of diabetes treatment. Severe cases can lead to falls, emergency department visits, and may increase the risk of stroke and death.

"For patients to have safe diabete...

Researchers report that insulin can be stored at less-cold temperatures than previously known, potentially simplifying diabetes care for people in warmer regions that have fewer resources.

Researchers from Doctors Without Borders and the University of Geneva tested insulin storage in real conditions ranging from 77 to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit for four weeks -- the time it typically takes t...

Women with type 2 diabetes may be more likely to develop breast cancer, but taking the diabetes drug metformin appears to reduce their risk for the most common type, new research finds.

Compared to women without diabetes, risk for estrogen-positive breast cancer was 38% lower among women with type 2 diabetes who had used metformin for 10 years or more.

Metformin did not protect agai...

Diabetics who've contracted COVID-19 should suspend their use of a class of common diabetes drugs known as sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), new research warns.

People using these medications for diabetes are at risk of a potentially fatal complication called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and it now appears that risk increases even more if they become sick with COVID-19,...

A common type 2 diabetes drug called metformin may have an unexpected, but positive, side effect: New research suggests that people taking the drug appear to have significantly slower declines in thinking and memory as they age.

"Our six-year study of older Australians with type 2 diabetes has uncovered a link between metformin use and slower cognitive [mental] decline and lower deme...

Type 2 diabetes can be tough to control without medication. But for some people, the thought of daily shots makes them delay or avoid starting insulin therapy.

Now, new research offers some hope for those insulin avoiders -- a once-a-week insulin injection may someday replace daily shots.

A phase 2 trial compared the new weekly insulin, called icodec, to the commonly used i...

People with diabetes face a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19, but a new survey reports they have also suffered more economic fallout from the pandemic.

In June, 18% of people with diabetes were out of work compared to 12% of the general population. And one-third of people with diabetes have lost at least some income since the pandemic began versus about 2...

Taking the statin Crestor in combination with the diabetes drug canagliflozin (Invokana) may have the potential to trigger statin toxicity, a new case report suggests.

Although this report details the problem in just one woman, the researchers noted concern because these drugs are taken by millions of people worldwide. These drugs are also increasingly prescribed together.

People taking a class of diabetes medications called SGLT2s have up to three times the risk for a serious complication called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) compared to people taking another drug, new research reveals.

SGLT2 (sodium-glucose cotransporter-2) inhibitors -- such as Farxiga, Jardiance and Invokana -- are a newer type of oral diabetes medicine. This class of medications is k...

An experimental ultrafast-acting insulin could work four times quicker than current fast-acting formulas, researchers say.

For the study, the researchers focused on a form of insulin called monomeric insulin. Though its structure should, in theory, allow it to act faster, monomeric insulin is too unstable for practical use, so the Stanford University team had to find a way around that...

Rising prices have grabbed headlines as people struggle to afford their lifesaving insulin, but new research may have found an alternative for people with type 2 diabetes.

The study found that combining a wearable, patch-like insulin delivery device (called the V-Go) and an older, cheaper insulin could safely help people with type 2 diabetes achieve good blood sugar control.

Imagine needing insulin to live but a natural disaster suddenly cuts off access to your medication. New drone technology may one day come to the rescue by making urgent deliveries to remote locations, researchers say.

The world's first documented drone delivery of medications to a diabetes patient in a difficult-to-reach community is described in a new paper.

The 16-minute...

Maybe you've gone to Craigslist to find a used car or a secondhand couch, but imagine having to turn to the internet to pay for lifesaving drugs.

It's already happening: A new study found that hundreds of ads were placed on Craigslist for insulin and asthma inhalers during a 12-day period in June 2019.

"This study shines a light on how deeply some patients are struggling to...

A novel combination of two drugs appeared to spur faster regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, a preliminary study in mice and human tissue found.

Beta cells are crucial to making insulin, a hormone that's deficient in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

The new drug combo pairs an already approved class of type 2 diabetes medications called GLP-...

If you don't need insulin, you probably haven't paid much attention to its skyrocketing cost, but new research shows that exorbitant drug pricing eventually affects everyone.

The study found that in 2017, Medicare spent nearly $8 billion on insulin. The researchers said that if Medicare were allowed to negotiate drug prices like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) can, Medic...

A new artificial pancreas system, drugs that help control blood sugar and protect the heart and the kidneys, a new medication that delays type 1 diabetes, and a new way to track blood sugar throughout the day -- 2019 was a pretty big year in diabetes care.

"This has been a good year for patients who have diabetes. There have been a lot of changes and there are more options. The...

Levels of possible cancer-causing chemicals in metformin diabetes medications are under investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Metformin is a prescription drug used to control high blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Over the past year and a half, several types of drugs -- including angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) used for high blood pressu...

Many people with diabetes have to inject themselves with insulin at least once a day, but new animal research suggests a pill may one day do the trick.

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 dr...

Are elderly people with diabetes being overtreated?

A new study suggests that's so: 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.

The study found that nearly 20% of people with type 2 diabetes older than 75 were...

A new pill to lower blood sugar for people with type 2 diabetes was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday.

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.

"Before this approval, patients did not have an oral GL...

If you have type 2 diabetes, keeping your blood sugar levels stable over time may be key to living longer.

New research finds that people who have more swings in their blood sugar levels were more than twice as likely to die early, compared to folks with more stable blood sugar management.

The study authors used a test called hemoglobin A1C to measure blood sugar. This com...