Yes folks, I’ve now launched the membership site, with information, a community forum and structured learning programmes for people with diabetes and their families.

Check it out right now at www.diabetesdietdoctor.com.

In an international study of 839 obese patients with Type 2 diabetes, rimonabant produced significant wieght loss, a reduction in waist size and an increase in HDL (”good”) cholesterol levels, but did not lead to any significant change in percentage atheroma volume. There was a small effect on total atheroma volume, but this was not clinically significant. The drug was associated with a high level of psychiatric side effects, as it has done in previous trials, and it has now been withdrawn in the US for this reason.

Weight loss in diabetes remains problematic, but the answer still seems to lie in cutting energy intake, particularly of carbohydrates, and taking more exercise.

Nissen et al. JAMA. 2008;299(13):1547-1560. Published online April 1, 2008 (doi:10.1001/jama.299.13.1547).