Pain Reliever May Help Control Diabetes
Pain Reliever May Help Control Diabetes
According to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine,
a pain medicine may help people with type 2 diabetes lower their
blood sugar. The medicine is salsalate, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drug (NSAID) used to treat conditions like arthritis. Researchers randomly
added salsalate or a placebo (fake medicine) to the current antidiabetic
regimens of 108 individuals. After 14 weeks, hemoglobin A1c levels,
a measure of blood sugar control, decreased by 0.5% or more among
subjects who took salsalate. This blood sugar lowering effect has already
been reported with aspirin, a cousin of salsalate. However, the
high doses of aspirin needed to produce the same decrease in blood
sugar have been linked to a greater risk of bleeding.
Diabetes is a group of disorders in which people have trouble controlling
their blood sugar due to a problem with the production or action
of a hormone called insulin. In addition to a healthy diet and exercise
program, treatment may include medications taken by mouth or injected
under the skin.