If obesity is one of the main causes of diabetes worldwide, then helping people lose weight may lower rates of diabetes. But it can be hard to shed weight by changing lifestyle habits alone.

For the most part, the more fat you carry, the higher your risk of type 2 diabetes. But how much fat you have may not be the only factor that boosts your risk of diabetes. Where that fat is located may also play a role.

Metformin (often the first drug of choice for treating type 2 diabetes) is not prescribed to patients with kidney problems for fear of serious risks. New research suggests these risks might be overrated.

Some patients with type 2 diabetes need an extra boost of insulin from the outside to get their blood sugar under control. Researchers wanted to see if one insulin treatment option carries a risk of cancer.

Being overweight can put a strain on your body and boost your risk of a number of health problems. When overweight turns into obesity, fat can spill over into other organs, including the pancreas.

While the size of your head may not matter so much, the size of your brain does. If parts of your brain get smaller, you may be faced with brain function problems. Diabetes may play a role in this process.

As you grow old, your brain may shrink, leading to problems with memory. In the past, brain shrinkage has been tied to diabetes. Now, new research suggests that brain shrinkage may start well before the onset of diabetes.

There are many tests used to diagnose prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. These same tests can also give doctors a picture of patients' blood sugar control and risk of heart problems. But which tests work best?

Studies have shown that the risk of diabetes may be different for people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Yet researchers are still not sure when this gap begins.

Along the road to improving diabetes care, both doctors and scientists have disagreed about which treatments are best. Now, there is disagreement about the safety of one of the most common diabetes drugs.