With as much research that has been done over the years scientists are still unable to explain the cause of diabetes. We do know that those who do not exercise and who are obese are at a greater risk to contract this disease.

In order to determine whether or not a patient has pre-diabetes or diabetes, health care providers conduct a Fasting Plasma Glucose Test (FPG) or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). Either test can be used to diagnose pre-diabetes or diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends the FPG because it is easier, faster, and less expensive to perform.

With the FPG test, a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl signals pre-diabetes. A person with a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher has diabetes. In the OGTT test, a person’s blood glucose level is measured after a fast and two hours after drinking a glucose-rich beverage. If the two-hour blood glucose level is between 140 and 199 mg/dl, the person tested has pre-diabetes. If the two-hour blood glucose level is at 200 mg/dl or higher, the person tested has diabetes.

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While bones appear solid, they are constantly being broken down and rebuilt by the body. In mice, researches found Avandia caused an increased activity of the cells that degrade bones. The assumption had always been that brittle bones in diabetics were the result of a reduced bone-building activity, not increased bone removal. This is according to a report published in this week’s online issue of Nature Medicine, the first attempt to really explain the link between the drug and fractures.

This finding “has led to a better understanding of the challenges associated with long-term treatment of patients with Type II diabetes… It also provides a basis for the development of a ’next generation’ of drug that can specifically dial out this side effect and a new insight into a previously unrecognized aspect of bone physiology that has important medical consequences” said Ronald M. Evans of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., lead author of the report.

GlaxoSmithKline, which markets the drug, has already acknowledged a higher risk of fractures among women who take the drug although no prior explaination has been offered as to why this happens. Avandia was also recently labeled with warnings about the risk of heart failure in some patients.

Nearly 21 million people in the United States have diabetes. Rosiglitazone is widely used in people with Type II, or adult onset diabetes, the most common form of the disease.

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