Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) describes a diverse group of medical and health care systems, practices, and products not currently considered to be part of conventional medicine. Inadequacies in current treatments for diabetes have led 2 to 3.6 million Americans to use CAM for diabetes treatment, despite limited studies of safety and efficacy of CAM methods. CAM is used mostly by West Indians, Africans, Indians, Latin Americans, or Asians. Prayer, acupuncture, massage, hot tub therapy, biofeedback, and yoga have been used as well as various plant remedies for treating diabetes. Several CAM practices and herbal remedies are promising for diabetes treatment, but further rigorous study is needed in order to establish safety, efficacy, and mechanism of action. In the meantime, it is important to be aware that many patients with diabetes may be using CAM and to consider potential interactions with conventional medicines being used.

Forty-two per cent of newly diagnosed, unselected African-Americans with Type 2 diabetes, treated intensively using pharmacological agents, education and diet developed near-normoglycaemic remission. Remission was associated with a greater recovery of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion suggesting that therapies directed at promoting beta cell recovery and preservation are potentially useful approaches to the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

In the hyperglycemic black NIDDM population, two variants exist: one with insulin resistance and one with normal insulin sensitivity. This insulin-sensitive variant represents 40% of subjects with a BMI less than 30 kg/m2. Moreover, the insulin-sensitive group has a lower risk profile for cardiovascular disease.

No abstract

The risk of developing contrast media-induced acute renal failure was studied in 49 randomly selected nonazotemic type 2 adult diabetic patients subjected to IVU. There were 19 men and 30 women in the group whose mean age was 62 +/- 10 years (range, 38 to 82 years). In preparation for IVU, patients were neither dehydrated nor given a laxative. The IVU was performed in the morning, using sodium diatrizoate and meglumine diatrizoate. Serum creatinine levels were measured pre-IVU and on days 1, 3, and 6 after the IVU. A total of three patients (6%) had an elevation of serum creatinine greater than 25% above the baseline by post-IVU day 3. One patient developed oliguria (less than 400 ml/24 hr) that lasted 2 days. Creatinine clearances of the three patients showing contrast media toxicity were 74, 60, and 105 ml/min pre-IVU. In each of the three patients, a return to pre-IVU serum creatinine concentration was noted within 2 weeks. It is concluded that the risk of acute renal failure post-IVU is small in hydrated nonazotemic type 2 diabetic patients.