Article by: Dr. Zoe Arugay
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Nick Jonas, a 'Diabetes Awareness' advocate Photo: Fame Pictures |
One research involving 35,500 patient showed that Avandia significantly increases chances of a heart attack. The results of the other research, a federal analysis of more than 227,500 Medicare patients, showed that the drug raises the risk for strokes, heart failure and death.
In other words, this drug does more harm than good.
These new results were released Monday.
Despite these, GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Avandia, stated that there are other more reliable studies that found no evidence of Avandia's association with these life-threatening problems.
So which is which? FDA will now have to reevaluate these new data next month at a special joint meeting. Until then, Avandia's life expectancy in the market remains uncertain.
Avandia was once the most popular drug in the world until studies have raised questions on its safety. FDA issued a warning regarding this and its sales plummetted, but the agency decided against removing it from the market in 2007.
With more overweight kids, more diabetes
Experts are still in the dark as to how overweight people develop diabetes, although we do know that they are at a higher risk for getting the disease than their non-overweight counterparts. But because the number of obesity in kids has climbed over the last several decades, the past 10 years have researches focus on the rapidly increasing number of children developing the disease.
An emerging theme here is that there is no typical diabetes patient. This means that in 2 obese kids, one may develop diabetes, the other may not. Scientists at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona are now looking directly at a patient's genes to understand the basis of diabetes.
Which famous people have diabetes?
Nick Jonas and Crystal Bowersox have Type 1 diabetes, while Randy Jackson is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
During Crystal's run in American Idol, she was became known to be the contestant who was admitted due to complications of the disease, prompting producers to postpone her performance. She came back to the competition for her performance, eventually finishing as a runner-up.
About a year and a half after his diagnosis, Nick publicly announced that he had diabetes at Carnival For a Cure. Nick’s advice to those newly diagnosed with diabetes is, “Don’t let it slow you down at all. I made a promise to myself on the way to the hospital that I wouldn’t let this thing slow me down and I’d just keep moving forward, and that’s what I did. Just keep a positive attitude and keep moving forward with it. Don’t be discouraged.”
Americal Idol judge and EP for America's Best Dance Crew, Randy Jackson was diagnosed some 6 years ago, and speaks for American Heart Association’s campaign, The Heart of Diabetes. He says of the campaign, "The American Heart Association is going to keep it real for everybody. One of the leading killers amongst diabetics is cardiovascular disease. It’s just awareness all around, trying to help everyone."
