Blood glucose can be lowered by Welchol so the Food and Drug Administration approved its use. It would thus improve the glycemic control in adults who have type 2 diabetes. Mind you this will either have to be combined with sulfonylureas, metformin, insulin or alone or combined with other anti-diabetic agents.
This approval made Welchol the only and first medication to lower both LDL cholesterol and glucose levels. This is good news for there are about 20.8 million people who have diabetes, 90% of whom have type 2 and 40% of these people have high LDL cholesterol. This will give the doctors a distinctive way to treat their patients.
The result of the study was presented at the 67th Annual Scientific Sessions of ADA in Chicago. They said that patients who were unable to control their condition on metformin were divided into two groups. One group was given Welchol in addition to their metformin treatment while the other group received a placebo.
When they compared the two groups, the ones treated with metformin and Welchol significantly lowered their A1C levels than the ones on metformin alone. In addition the Welchol group also lowered their LDL levels considerably when compared to the placebo group.
There were two other studies that produced the same results when Welchol was added to the treatment based on sulfonylurea or insulin. This gives the doctors the option to treat both risk factors in cardiovascular events which are high cholesterol and high blood glucose.
Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami, Ronald B. Goldberg, MD who is also the Diabetes Research Institute's Associate Director at the aforementioned university said that the risk factors are a problem with type 2 diabetics because they have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Dr. Goldberg was one of the investigators of the studies.
The diabetics have to test their blood glucose level regularly. If the blood glucose levels are not within target level then something has got to change. Find out what it is, change and implement the strategy, check the level again and keep doing it until you find what works for you. You almost have to work like a detective.
It is important to monitor the blood glucose level because doing so can help in staying away from the complications. Studies after studies have shown that the risks for diabetes complications are significantly reduced when maintaining within the near normal level the blood glucose.
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