Type 2 diabetes, mate? By crikey. Australia's diabetes epidemic continues to be a problem. News this week indicates the spread of obesity, and with it associated conditions like Type 2 diabetes, in rural areas is far worse than previously realized. A survey of 806 randomly selected adults (okay, not the biggest sample, admittedly) found that a great many are affected by the disease.

Based on their findings from that survey, researchers calculate that almost three-quarters of Aussie men living in rural areas are overweight. They think women in rural areas may be slightly better-off - around two-thirds may be overweight. This puts rural Australians at a very high risk for T2DM. The conclusion, stated in the Medical Journal of Australia: "urgent population-wide action is required to tackle the problem."

As is the case in the US, a big concern is how to treat all those people as they age and their overall health worses. Specifically, what will become of Australia's public healthcare system? "We might get a whole generation, now in their 40s, 50s and 60s, who will do markedly worse than their parents," predicts lead researcher for the study, Professor Edward Janus of Melbourne's Western Hospital.

I know you've always wondered what a diabetes drug might do to a nondiabetic. Riddle solved for this drug- nothing. Dia-B Tech Limited, a Melbourne-based biotech, released results from a medical trial for a new treatment for type 2 diabetes that show it is safe for use in humans without diabetes.

The drug makes a patient's own insulin work better. The insulin sensitizing factor known as compound ISF402 attaches itself to insulin and helps break it down to a more useable form This is a great concept - and one that is fashioned fully in a bitter melon. However, let's give the Aussie biotech the spotlight. Bitter melon is not for the faint of heart - it has teeth!

The study included 24 healthy male volunteers given the treatment and it showed no adverse health effects. If it did not have any effect on healthy individuals - why call it a drug? Call it gum or something mundane. They may have to come up with a whole new category of drug that has no influence in healthy individuals. Maybe they should call it a biologically indifferent agent. Sounds like it still qualifies for a copay, right?

The company now plans to check the treatment's safety on 16 volunteers with type 2 diabetes. The company expects the safety trials to be completed mid-year and then plans to begin a larger trial to find out if the treatment works.