Diet and exercise better than drugs for reducing heart risks in diabetics

Tue, 15 Jun 2010
With many diabetics successfully keep their blood sugar levels down through various medications, a new study has revealed that pills aren’t as beneficial as diet and exercise for combating heart disease, the biggest cause of death related to diabetes .

One of the four new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that relying on drugs such as antihypertensives to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes doesn’t lower a diabetic's risk of heart complications, while another revealed that there was no benefit from adding a drug to raise good cholesterol levels in diabetics who were taking a statin to lower the bad kind. The other two studies found that there were no heart benefits associated with two drugs that were used to lower high blood sugar levels.

The research is further evidence that diabetics may not benefit as much as believed from medications used to push down blood sugar levels or blood pressure to normal or below normal levels. The outcome from these studies indicates the importance of lifestyle for diabetics, even if they're already achieving optimal blood glucose levels with medications.

There is now a lot of evidence that reducing excess weight, doing more exercise and making improvements to diet and nutrition lead to better control of diabetes and lower risks of heart disease, and that without the side effects or health risks associated with drugs that lower blood sugar levels.

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