NAIROBI, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - A Kenyan diabetes group Saturday called for free treatment for patients aged under 18 as a minister warned that the disease was a 'medical time bomb' in the east African country.

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2008 (AFP) - Some 24 million Americans suffer from diabetes, an increase of more than three million in just the last two years, according to US government figures.

The Mediterranean diet, which is famously beneficial for the cardiovascular system, also helps protect against diabetes, according to a paper published online Thursday by the British Medical Journal.

PARIS, May 23, 2008 (AFP) - Aggressive insulin treatment or lifestyle changes at the onset of diabetes can sharply curb the incidence and impact of the disease over the long haul, according to two studies released Friday.

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2008 (AFP) - A single gene called erythropoietin (EPO) helps raise the risk among diabetics of developing severe eye and kidney complications, a study released Monday said.

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2008 (AFP) - The number of women suffering from diabetes who fall pregnant has more than doubled in the past six years, raising fears their children could also become diabetic, a new study said Monday.

Researchers examined 175,249 teenage girls and women who gave birth in 11 hospitals run by the Kaiser Permanente Foundation in California between 1999 and 2005.

SYDNEY, April 28, 2008 (AFP) - Australian scientists may have discovered how to help people lose weight without cutting back on food, a breakthrough that could pave the way for fat-burning drugs.

Researchers in Melbourne found that by manipulating fat cells in mice they were able to speed up the animals' metabolisms.

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2008 (AFP) - Men who develop diabetes in middle age are at significantly increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life, according to a long-term study published Wednesday.

The study involved 2,269 men in Sweden who underwent testing at age 50 for diabetes, a disease caused by abnormal insulin levels.

WELLINGTON, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - India and China are leading a global explosion in the diabetes epidemic, with the numbers of sufferers worldwide expected to grow more than 50 percent by 2025, a leading researcher said Tuesday.

PARIS, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - The dance-like exercise tai chi, practiced by tens of millions of people in China and around the world, can help curb symptoms of type 2 diabetes, say a pair of studies released Tuesday.

PARIS, March 30, 2008 (AFP) - Researchers have uncovered new genetic clues for diabetes and cancer of the colon and rectum, according to papers published on Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics.

TOKYO, March 13, 2008 (AFP) - Men who sleep fewer than five hours a night run greater risks of becoming obese and of having high levels of blood sugar that could lead to diabetes, a Japanese study showed.

PARIS, March 13, 2008 (AFP) - Taking vitamin D supplements in infancy may help a youngster ward off Type 1 diabetes, according to a review of the evidence released on Thursday in a specialist journal.

WASHINGTON, Jan 23, 2008 (AFP) - Obese diabetes patients are much more successful in cutting weight and controlling blood sugar levels when treated by abdominal surgery rather than dieting, according a study released Wednesday.

CHICAGO, Dec 31, 2007 (AFP) - Just three nights of bad sleep is enough to dramatically reduce the body's ability to process glucose and raise the risk of diabetes, a study released Monday found.

PARIS, Nov 21, 2007 (AFP) - International health experts unveiled a master plan on Wednesday that they said could avert at least 36 million premature deaths worldwide from 'lifestyle' diseases by 2015.

BEIJING, Nov 15, 2007 (AFP) - More than 40 million people in China now have diabetes or a precursor, as growing affluence leads to less physical exertion and unhealthier diets, state media reported on Thursday.

PARIS, Nov 14, 2007 (AFP) - Scientists on Wednesday said they had uncovered two more genetic links to juvenile diabetes as the United Nations backed World Diabetes Day to place a spotlight on this fast-growing form of the disease.

WASHINGTON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Consuming the omega-3 fatty acids present in certain kinds of fish could lower the likelihood of acquiring type 1 diabetes in children who are at risk, a study suggested on Wednesday.

The research found that children with a genetic risk of acquiring type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that causes the destruction of insulin-producing cells, could reduce their risk by 55 percent by eating omega-3s.

WASHINGTON, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - An analysis of four clinical trials involving more than 14,000 patients found that diabetes medication Avandia (rosiglitazone) taken over a lengthy period of time increases the risk of heart attack by 42 percent, a report released Tuesday said.

It marks one of the first studies to look at how use for one year or longer of Avandia, in patients with type 2 diabetes, affects risk of heart attack, heart failure and mortality, according to authors of the study in the September 12 issue of the Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA).

PARIS, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - Brain cells damaged by obesity may contribute to Type 2 diabetes, a disease that is spreading at epidemic rates, according to a study released Wednesday.

And in unorthodox research also reported on Wednesday, doctors are exploring whether a radical type of weight-loss surgery on morbidly obese patients may also be a cure for the disease.

Diabetics do not produce enough insulin or cannot use the insulin they do make, causing wild and potentially dangerous fluctuations of glucose levels in the blood.

SYDNEY, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Australian researchers Wednesday said they had developed a world-first treatment which could save hundreds of thousands of smokers and diabetics from undergoing leg amputations.

The procedure involves pumping blood at high pressure into limbs dying of vascular disease to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels, the researchers said, and has saved the leg of the first patient to be treated.

CHICAGO, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - An experimental new combination therapy has reversed type I diabetes in mice, thanks in part to a novel focus on combating insulin resistance in this form of the disease, US researchers said Monday.

Insulin resistance has long been a recognized feature of type II or late-onset diabetes, but has only recently been identified as a component of juvenile or type I diabetes.

CHICAGO, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Two popular drugs used to treat late-onset diabetes may double the risk of heart failure, according to a new study.

Researchers who analysed data on 78,000 patients who took Avandia or Actos to treat type II diabetes found that it increased the risk of heart failure by up to 100 percent, said the study released Thursday.

The researchers estimate that for every 50 patients taking the medications over a period of 26 months, one person will develop heart failure.