Is there a link between taking beta blockers and developing diabetes?
It seems that there may be.

Patients prescribed beta-blockers to control blood pressure have a 50 percent increased probability of becoming a sufferer of diabetes compared to being on newer medication, diabetes experts have discovered.

In a major break through, a recent study illustrates the risks of using the traditional treatments which have fallen out of favor for use on raised blood pressure.

Diabetes sufferers using beta-blockers and diuretics  (the standard prescribed drug for over 30 years) are at far higher risk of diabetes.

It is not just that they are  less effective than more modern treatments, however they advance and, in a few circumstances, bring about the ailment in sufferers from high blood pressure who already are at elevated probability.

As a result of this, many people taking the regular medications are contracting diabetes avoidably each year as a result.

Until this year, around two million patients were taking beta-blocker type of medications.

However newer guidelines to doctors says more modern ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers should be the first treatment of choice for the growing numbers of Britons given drugs for high blood pressure.

This modified opinion came after detailed analysis which found the older drugs were only 50% as effectual at stopping strokes and coronary failures.

Background Information on Diabetes:

Diabetes is a affliction in which your body does not produce or make correct use of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is vital to convert sugar into energy vital for daily life. What causes diabetes are still not known, although both genetic and environment like excess weight and absence of exercise appear to be relevant factors.

Symptoms of Diabetes:

* The first symptom of diabetes might be terrible thirst (not connected with exercise, hot weather, or short-term illness)
* Extreme hunger; (you know that you have eaten sufficiently, but you still feel hungry)
* Needing to urinate often, (often noticed because you need to wake repeatedly in the nighttime)
* Feeling tired and lacking energy (sometimes enough to make you fall asleep unexpectedly after dining). This is one of the most frequent symptoms of diabetes).
* Unexpected and unusual weight loss (any surprise reduction in weight tells you to make an appointment with your doctor)