New study finds lowering blood sugar may not be best course for type 2 diabetes

Wed, 27 Jul 2011
Although high levels of blood sugar is known to be one of the main causes for people with type 2 diabetes developing complications from their condition, a new study in Germany has claimed that lowering these levels to normal may not offer the expected health benefits.

It was previously believed that if blood sugar is controlled so that it returns to normal levels quickly, this would prevent most of the problems from high glucose levels. However, the research by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare, which assessed the findings from seven surveys involving around 28,000 people, monitored the effect of drastic reductions in high blood sugar levels.

It was found that in extreme cases, including heart attacks, strokes, blindness and the latter stages of renal disease, there was no benefit from reducing high blood sugar levels.

The study found that the only difference was that patients whose high blood sugar levels were lowered drastically were more likely to have hypoglycemic episodes more often, which is not good for diabetics as it could lead on to other health complications.

Although more research needs to be carried out to better understand the findings, it was claimed that because the drastic reduction of high blood sugar does not alter the reasons for death for patients with type 2 diabetes, then this treatment may not be the best alternative or be specific enough in each case.

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