Lowering Glucose Levels With Diabetes Drugs Increases Death Rate

by Heidi Stevenson

28 January 2010

A new study documents that lowering glucose (blood sugar) with drugs results in increased deaths. The more glucose is reduced, the greater the death rate. Modern medicine's typical response to disease, pharmaceuticals, is yet again shown to be a deadly farce.

Researchers from Cardiff University in Wales followed nearly 50,000 patients with diabetes. Subjects were 50 or over and found in the UK General Practice Research Database from November 1986 to November 2008. Only those whose primary disease was diabetes were considered, and confounding factors, such as age, smoking, and cholesterol, were identified and statistical techniques were used to eliminate any skewing of results.

The Study

Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated to identify the relative death rates of people taking insulin, the drugs metformin and sulphonylurea (blood glucose lowering drugs), or both insulin and the drugs. Deaths from all causes were noted, but specific causes of death were not.

A primary measure of diabetes diagnosis is a measure of sugar in the blood. The test is called DCCT-HbA_1c (HBA1c). In nondiabetics, an HBA1c between 4 and 5.9 percent is generally considered normal.

The Cardiff study found that the rate of death increases by about 80 percent (HR=1.79) when HBA1c levels are decreased to 6.4 percent. Patients whose HBA1c levels were 7.5 percent had the lowest death rate.

The death rate of patients taking insulin was about 50% higher than those taking glucose-lowering drugs. It could be that the more severe a person's diabetes, the more likely insulin will be used. It may simply be the result of more severe disease. However, the study did not address this issue.

The distinction in death rates between patients taking glucose-lowering drugs along with insulin was equivalent to those taking only glucose-lowering drugs.

The Media's and Modern Medicine's Spin

Dr. Iain Frame, research chief at Diabetes UK stated:

It is not clear what the causes of death were from the results reported. Furthermore, when it comes to the suggestion made in this research that insulin could increase the risk of death, we must consider important factors such as age, the duration of their diabetes and how the participants managed their condition.

The study eliminated "age, sex, smoking status, cholesterol, cardiovascular risk, and general morbidity"⁽¹⁾ as potential confounders. Frame's claim simply doesn't reflect the facts of the study.

Even more significant is Dr. Frame's lack of understanding that the cause of death is not the issue. The issue is the rate of death. Rate of death from all causes is, in fact, generally considered the most significant factor in determining whether a medical intervention is effective.

This study shows significant harm from the use of noninsulin drugs for type 2 diabetes control. No amount of media or medical spin changes that.

Dr. Frame goes on to state:

While people would be able to manage their condition for a period with diet, exercise and even tablets, many would eventually have to move on to insulin.

Whoa! This is a claim based on nothing but wishful thinking. There is nothing to indicate that diabetes managed through diet and exercise is ultimately a failed approach, as Frame seems to imply. There is no reason to believe that type 2 diabetes is anything but a disorder that results from poor diet and inadequate exercise.

The Real Implications

Pharmaceuticals don't fix health problems. They mask them. As is obvious from the Cardiff study, increased blood glucose is not the disease. It's a symptom of the disease. Suppressing the symptom doesn't resolve the problem.

Drugging a symptom out of existence doesn't lengthen life. The problem is a metabolism that's out of balance. To resolve it—to actually return to health—requires, primarily, a change in lifestyle, in particular a change in diet and ending sedentary habits. There are no quick fixes.

If you're diagnosed with type 2 (noninsulin-dependent) diabetes, the only rational approach is to fight it by making yourself healthy. If you still cannot resolve the problem, then the risks from drugs may be worth taking. However, the chances that you'll actually need to take them will become minuscule.

More clearly than ever, this study demonstrates that modern medicine's approach of treating the symptom—high blood sugar—rather than the underlying problem benefits only those who profit from the drugs.