A gene sequence linked to an expanding waist line, weight gain and a tendency to develop type 2 diabetes has been discovered as part of a study published today in the journal Nature Genetics.

Aspirin-like compounds (salicylates) can claim another health benefit: increasing the amount of insulin produced by otherwise healthy obese people. Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, the first step toward type 2 diabetes.

Doctors are aware of a range of risk factors, mostly related to the patients’ family history, overweight, and lifestyle, that contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is spending Ј100 million a year to help people with non-insulin treated type 2 diabetes monitor their own blood sugar levels, but the process is more likely to make them depressed than provide any long-term health benefits, according to a series of articles published ahead of print on bmj.com today.

Type 2 Diabetes is a chronic disease with rising prevalence rates throughout the world. In Germany, about 8 million people are affected. These numbers could even be an underestimation as a relatively high number of undiagnosed diabetics remains. The newly-published meta analysis 1) on the genetics of type 2 diabetes casts new light on the origin of this disease.

Researchers have identified six new genes that play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.

People with type 2 diabetes living in the south west have already been participating in the largest diet and exercise trial in the UK for people with type 2 diabetes, but more people are needed to help.

The current era of high-throughput genome scanning brings with it a surge in the discovery of genetic markers that confer risk to human disease. These findings result from whole genome association studies, in which the genomes of many people are scanned on microarrays to locate genes related to diseases like type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease.

Scientists have identified six new genes which play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes, and among the group is the second gene known to also play a role in prostate cancer.

An international collaboration of scientists from Europe and the US has identified six new genes which play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes, extending the total number of genes implicated in common forms of the disease to sixteen.

Scientists have uncovered the therapeutic properties of bitter melon, a vegetable and traditional Chinese medicine, that make it a powerful treatment for Type 2 diabetes.

While analyzing data from Saskatchewan health databases, Lauren Brown, researcher with the U of A’s School of Public Health, found people with a history of depression had a 30 per cent increased risk of type 2 Diabetes.