So the latest thing seems to be, don't give us drugs to manage diabetes, make us change our lifestyle. Here are a couple of news items I picked up on recently:
CBS News Report
and
BBC News Report

Interestingly, I am NOT overweight, I don't eat unhealthily and haven't for many years, yet I am Type 2 diabetic. I have been told that I HAVE the illness and it won't go away, it cannot be cured. The tablets, and I am on avandamet as it was the one that eventually managed to get my blood sugars down below 7.0 (most of the time), keep me in check, they help regulate my body, they do not provide a cure. My question is, who are these people at the Mayo clinic talking about? For me, these tablets do not prevent Diabetes, they help control what I have. Are they advocating that I stop tabletting and adopt lifestyle changes in order to keep my blood sugar down? But I already have it, so, are doctors prescribing these drugs to patients who haven't got Diabetes, but might get it because they are fat / overweight / inactive ? I don't understand.

Another intersting story on the genes front emerged this week:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-04/28/content_862461.htm

I quote "Despite its growing global prevalence, the disease's underlying causes have been only minimally understood, restricting treatment and prevention efforts." from the above source. MINIMALLY UNDERSTOOD. I read that after I was still seething about the Mayo professors and their apparant generalisation that type 2 diabetics are overweight and immobile.

More and more I feel like a leper, perhaps I ought to get some T SHirts printed up with 'It's in my Genes'

Scientists say they have mapped the most important genes that put people at risk of type 2 diabetes, offering hope that a test could be delivered.
The findings could explain up to 70% of the genetics of the disorder which affects over 1.9 million UK people.
Family history is a major risk factor for the condition, along with obesity.
See http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6342855.stm for more

and

More evidence has emerged suggesting a link between pollutants found in oily fish and type two diabetes.
An international team found high levels of persistent organic pesticides (POPs) in the blood correlated to insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.
see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6544709.stm

Interesting that as a man at under 16stone (ie under 98Kg) and at 6'2 " tall, I am in no definitiion obese, yet nearly everything i read points to obesity being the major contributing factor to beming type 2 diabetic. Indeed when I went to the Diabetics Session run by my local Health Authority, i was the thinnest person there, yet I now feel 'fat'

It is depressing