Are Commonly Used Diabetic Pills Dangerous?
Another news story hit the stands recently, this one knocking a commonly used class of diabetes pill, the sulfonylureas. More than half of people treated for diabetes take pills, and a large number of them use sulfonylureas (pronounced sul-FON’-yl-ur-EE’-as) such as Amaryl, Glucotrol, and many other brands and generics–so this latest news story alarmed people. The newspapers were reporting on a research study, published in the British Medical Journal, that looked at the medical records of 91,521 people with diabetes in the U.K. They found that those taking the sulfonylureas did less well than those who were taking some other diabetes pills. Newspapers immediately pounced on these research results and jumped to the conclusion that the sulfonylureas were causing patients to worsen. So what should we think about the sulfonylureas? This class of drugs has been used for over 60 years, and has a generally good track record. They act by causing the pancreas to make more insulin, so if the do
