Treatment

Understand how GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide work - and how to eat, exercise, and stay healthy while using them.

✅ Tips for meal planning, protein intake, and hydration

🏋️‍♀️ Exercise strategies to preserve lean muscle

⚖️ Guidance on avoiding side effects and maintaining results

Explore this and other trusted patient resources at the T2D Network

🔗 Read more: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine

A new study in Cell Metabolism has found that a natural compound made by gut bacteria - called D-lactate - may play an important role in controlling blood sugar and reducing fatty liver disease.

Researchers discovered that when D-lactate builds up in the bloodstream, it can help the body manage glucose levels and fat metabolism more effectively. In animal studies, adjusting D-lactate activity improved both blood sugar control and liver health, especially in obesity-related conditions.

This breakthrough points to the gut microbiome as a powerful new target for preventing and managing metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

News article: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250730/Canadian-scientists-trap-gut-microbe-fuel-to-improve-blood-sugar-and-liver-health.aspx

Original research: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(25)00328-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413125003286%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

You may have seen the recent news about CRISPR-edited pancreas cells helping someone with type 1 diabetes produce insulin without needing immune-suppressing drugs. Pretty exciting stuff!

While this is focused on type 1 diabetes, there’s potential for type 2 diabetes too. Researchers are looking at ways to use gene editing to fix genes linked to insulin production problems, like the PAX5 gene, which can affect how your pancreas secretes insulin.

There are also experimental therapies in development using CRISPR-edited stem cells to replace or support beta cells. The hope is that in the future, people with type 2 diabetes might have long-term ways to improve insulin production, beyond diet, exercise, and medication.

It’s still early days, but it’s a good example of how advances in one area of diabetes research can eventually impact others.

Health Canada has approved Ozempic (semaglutide) to reduce kidney decline in adults with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Clinical trial data (the international FLOW trial) showed that patients on Ozempic had a 24% lower risk of significant kidney deterioration or failure compared with placebo and were also less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

The drug, already approved for blood sugar control and weight loss (under the brand Wegovy at higher doses), is now the first GLP-1 therapy in Canada shown to protect both kidneys and the heart in Type 2 diabetes.

The trial involved 3,533 participants across 28 countries, followed for an average of 3.4 years, on top of standard treatments for blood pressure and blood sugar. Side effects are mostly gastrointestinal, with rare serious complications like pancreatitis.

Experts emphasize that early use of Ozempic in disease progression may help prevent severe kidney damage, dialysis, or transplant while also…

globalnews.ca

The patients taking the drug were also less likely to die from cardiovascular disease — another condition that affects many patients with diabetes.