More from the world of lab coats and Bunsen burners: a new Harvard University study (published in Science) suggests that Type 2 diabetics who are overweight could benefit from taking a couple of different drugs. The interesting thing is, these drugs were actually designed to treat other troubles - liver disease and a blood disorder. The former, ursodiol (usually used for liver and gallbladder issues), and the latter, Buphenyl (used to treat a serious yet rare blood disorder), were tested on obese, insulin-resistant mice. The result? The drugs had a normalizing effect on the mice's blood sugar levels.

Next step, of course, is to test this treatment out on humans and see if it has the same result. Shouldn't be too hard finding subjects, what with around twenty million Americans having Type 2 diabetes. Apparently, around ninety percent of that number are overweight or obese. Maybe this is a dumb question, but shouldn't we put at least as much effort into getting Type 2 diabetics to adopt healthier lifestyles and, er, drop some of that weight? In the meantime, I'm sure the manufacturers of these particular drugs are jumping for joy at this news...