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April 20th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda THURSDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) — It’s not clear whether
patients with type 2 diabetes gain any long-term benefit from taking the
blood sugar-lowering drug metformin and insulin together rather than
insulin alone.
That’s the conclusion of Danish researchers who reviewed data from 23
clinical trials involving more than 2,200 patients over the age of 18.
Reporting online April 19 in the BMJ, they found that taking
metformin plus insulin leads to better blood sugar control, less weight
gain and less need for insulin.
However, the researchers also noted that the clinical trials provided
little information about long-term patient outcomes, such as the total
numbers of deaths and deaths from cardiovascular disease.
This means that more clinical trials are needed to determine the
long-term benefits and harms of the combination, specifically the risks of
premature death.
The researchers, led by Bianca Hemmingsen of the Center for Clinical
Intervention Research in Copenhagen, also believe that the combination of
metformin and insulin raises the odds for severe low blood sugar
(hypoglycemia), so further study is needed to assess the long-term
benefits and harms of this regimen.
Currently, metformin is recommended in guidelines for type 2 diabetes
patients starting on insulin.
One expert in the United States took issue with the findings.
“It certainly seems like a controversial statement since all our
treatment is based on metformin with additional meds [insulin or
otherwise] added when the blood sugar is no longer controlled and based on
what an individual patient might need,” said Dr. Mary Ann Banerji,
director of the Diabetes Treatment Center at the State University of New
York Downstate Medical Center, in New York City.
She added that, “I am unaware that there is more hypoglycemia with
metformin plus insulin compared to insulin alone, since presumably one
would not be put on insulin unless it was needed and other modalities
[treatments] tried.”
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases has more about diabetes medicines.
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