Saturday, August 23, 2008

Choosing between cheap drugs and a thin waist

Dr. Benjamin Brewer notes the difficulty of weight gain associated with medication for diabetes, since obesity is often a risk factor for diabetes. The less-expensive drugs (ones like glipizide, which you can get at Wal-Mart for $4 a month) are the most likely to cause weight gain, while the more expensive drugs like Byetta may actually help people lose weight.

Other generic drugs that don’t cause weight gain might not be powerful enough to treat the blood sugar problem, he writes. And even people on some of the more expensive drugs, such as Actos and Avandia, may still end up gaining weight on their bodies as they lose weight from their wallets.

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