Acording to a Finnish study, diabetes may increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.

Researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes were more than 80% more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease than people without diabetes. This is the first study to suggest that diabetes may be a risk factor of Parkinson's disease, a progressive disease that causes muscle rigidity and tremors.

The study followed a group of more than 50,000 men and women over a period of 18 years. During that time, 324 men and 309 women developed Parkinson's disease. People who had type 2 diabetes at the start of the study were far more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Overall, after adjusting for other possible risk factors for Parkinson's disease, men and women with type 2 diabetes were 83% more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those without it.

Although the exact nature of the relationship between diabetes and Parkinson's disease is unclear, researchers say several lifestyle factors may be associated with both disorders. Among these factors are: obesity, cigarette smoking, and lack of physical activity.

Perhaps further research between the association of diabetes and Parkinson's disease could help researchers better understand an avenue to a cure. . Pioglitazone is a drug used to treat diabetes. It may also help fight the onset of Parkinson's. Thanks to funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation we may be closer to clinical trials and an answer.

Much like a roadblock, but with a fortuitous outcome -- an experimental heart drug didn't achieve the primary goal of a late-stage trial but it did dramatically reduce the risk patients would develop diabetes.

The anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory drug, the first of its kind, reduced the risk of developing diabetes by 64% and demonstrated a small but statistically significant reduction in blood sugar after 12 months. The study included data from 6,144-patients. The company believes this finding to be a serendipitous outcome, despite the initial shortcomings of the trial objective. They need to confirm it in a large clinical trial. The impressive diabetes results may come as a surprise to investors who have abandoned AtheroGenics or who have been betting the drug will fail.

Heart patients in the study received either 300 milligrams of the drug or a placebo on top of a host of standard-of-care medicines they were already taking, such as aspirin, cholesterol-lowering statins, blood thinners and/or diabetes medicines.

The drug had an undesirable impact on blood fats, raising bad LDL cholesterol by about 12% and lowering good HDL cholesterol by roughly the same amount. There were also some potentially troubling safety signals with a trend toward more heart failure in those taking the drug. In spite of the undesirable affects on blood lipids, the drug has a profound effect on diabetes. Further research will be conducted on the efficacy of this drug in reducing the risk of developing diabetes.