Advances in managing type 2 diabetes: challenging old paradigms and developing new ones

As is well known, diabetes rates continue to escalate worldwide, adding cost and disease burden to all health-care institutions. Over the last few years, however, a number of diabetes paradigms have been challenged, not least on the best methods to lessen or delay the development of co-morbidities, in particular cardiovascular disease (CVD) (i.e. targeting blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking will do more than intensive glucose control). In addition, recent research has offered some hope to potentially reverse diabetes in motivated individuals, with resultant larger and longer trials of such interventions about to commence. This brief review summarizes these important recent developments and suggests that, while many new drugs are being added to the diabetes therapeutic armory, more could and should be done to target sustainable weight change in our patients for multiple health benefits.