CHICAGO (Reuters) - Drugs used to control diabetes do not reduce
signs of inflammation that are linked with heart disease, U.S.
researchers said on Tuesday in a study that reinforces the need
for diet and exercise. Both heart disease and diabetes are
inflammatory diseases, and researchers had assumed that
controlling diabetes would have an effect. "At the time we
initiated the trial, we were thinking if we treat the diabetes,
we will lower inflammation," said Dr. Aruna Pradhan of Brigham
and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, whose
study appears in the Journal of the American Medical
Association. "This study suggests that lowering glucose alone
does not impact one important risk factor for heart disease, and
that is inflammation," Pradhan said in a telephone interview.
She said the data may help explain the findings of a number of
large studies in diabetics that found aggressive control of
blood glucose did little to protect against heart attacks and
stroke. "Just simply treating diabetes