According to a new study, type 2 diabetes patients taking insulin, raise the risk of premature death by maintaining an extremely tight control of their blood sugar levels.

The researchers from Cardiff University School of Medicine, Wales suggest diabetes guidelines should be revised to include both high and low thresholds for blood sugar levels.

However, other experts familiar with the study said the findings are debateable and diabetics must not abandon efforts to lower blood sugar levels, whether through medication, insulin or making lifestyle changes.

Dr. Daniel Bessesen, Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado, Denver, including being the Chief of Endocrinology at Denver Health Medical Centre believes low blood sugar or hypoglycaemia is to be avoided at all costs.

Keeping blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible it is believed minimizes both micro-vascular complications affecting the eyes, kidneys and limbs and macro-vascular complications like heart attack and stroke. The new findings published online in The Lancet are not the first suggesting a downside to lower glucose levels, as two earlier studies have also indicated lower glucose levels, instead of helping could even kill people with type
2 diabetes.

The Cardiff researchers studied almost 28,000 type 2 diabetes patients taking a combination of metformin, also known as Glucophage, including other brand names along with a class of drugs known as sulphonylureas. And another 20,000 individuals were taking insulin. But, that could be due to the fact that those taking insulin are older and sicker than those taking drugs to control type 2 diabetes.

Individuals with the lowest blood sugar levels (median HbA1c of 6.4 percent) were found to have a 52% higher risk of death, compared to 79% of those with the highest blood sugar levels.

The findings suggest diabetics should be kept on oral drug, which serves to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin, and which combined with diet and exercise is the safest way of controlling blood sugar in type 2 diabetics.