Antacids Aid Blood Sugar Control in People With Diabetes
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A class of drugs widely used to treat heartburn and stomach ulcers improve blood sugar control in patients with diabetes when added to their usual treatment, a new analysis indicates. But the same class of drugs — known medically as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and including agents such as omeprazole — did not prevent diabetes in people who do not already have it, the same research shows. As well as working to suppress acid, "We know that these drugs affect certain gut hormones that are important in glucose regulation," Kashif Munir, MD, told WebMD.
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@srabani Munir, an associate professor of endocrinology, diabetes, and nutrition at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined the results of five studies including almost 250,000 people without diabetes. The researchers didn't find that using proton pump inhibitors reduces the risk of developing new diabetes in this population. But then they looked at seven studies involving 342 patients with diabetes to see the effects of PPIs on blood sugar control.