(Online Desk)

Researchers are one step closer to a new drug that could lower blood glucose levels in patients with insulin resistance, but without the potentially harmful side effects.

Insulin resistence is a known risk factor for type 2 diabetes. It arises when the body’s cells are no longer able to respond to insulin, which is the hormone that regulates blood glucose.

As a result, blood glucose levels can become too high, and this may lead to type 2 diabetes. There are medications that can help to prevent the progression to type 2 diabetes in patients with insulin resistance, such as thiazolidinediones.

But unfortunately, these medications can promote weight gain and a number of other health problems.

Dr. Domenico Accili — director of the Columbia University Diabetes Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, NY — and colleagues have identified a number of compounds that may be just as effective as current insulin resistance medications on the market, but which do not lead to weight gain.