Succinobucol an Antioxidant, Another Hope For Diabetics
According to the new study done by researchers of the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada, a new antioxidant and anti inflammatory drug Succinobucol, is believed to show benefits in the prevention and treatment of Diabetes.
Succinobucol is a chemical relative of Probucol, a cholesterol lowering drug, which was taken out of the market in 1995 because of the side effects.
Dr Jean Claude Tardif, director of the research center at the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada, and the author of the study says that, “There is more data in the article than in the previous presentation, with greater detail on the prevention of diabetes and glycemic [sugar] control. There are several interesting findings that include a large reduction of new cases of diabetes and also glycemic control in patients who already have diabetes”.
“But there needs to be confirmation before it is used widely, because there was no effect on clinical endpoints such as heart attack and stroke.” says Tardif.
The full study of the preliminary results on the drug is published in may 24 issue of Lancet.
The trail reported in the Lancet included 6.144 people. 37% of whom had Diabetes and all of whom had been hospitalized for heart attack or the dangerous heart rhythm problem called Unstable Angina. They were given Succinobucol daily for two years, while the other half took Placebo. All of them was taking other drugs such as cholesterol- lowering statins, beta blockers or ACE inhibitors.
When the study starts, among the participants who did not have diabetes, 4.2% of those who did not take Succinobucol were found to develop the disease, compared to 1.64% of those taking the drug, a 64% risk reduction was noticed. For those who have Diabetes, taking Succinobucol provided better blood sugar control than not taking the drug.
It showed some side effects too. As during the trial, the Atrial Fibrillation , a dangerous heartbeat abnormality, occurs twice in those taking Sucinobucol. Although no difference in the incidence of death, cardiac arrest, heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular endpoints between those taking or not taking the drug were seen. On this, Tadrif says “But that is true of all the drugs now used in diabetes. There is no evidence that they reduce heart attacks and strokes.”
Other chief side effect of the drug is Diarrhea. About 23% of those taking it reported Diarrhea. One in seven of those reporting stopped taking Succinobucol.
Concluding the fact that, although it shows reduction of blood sugar level, more research on the cardiovascular risk should be done before it is recommended to use widely.
Source: Forbes.com
Filed under Diabetes, Diabetes Drug, Heart
August 1st, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Dr. Strauss, who was the first person to run an ORAC evaluation on Acai berries and has found that Acai has the richest Antioxidant of any food in the world.