Research Project

I've always really been interested in diabetes since it's such a prevalent issue in society, especially during the past few decades because of the increasing obesity problems in America. More specifically, I really wanted to find out more about the varieties of drugs available for type 2 diabetes mellitus because it is the most common form of diabetes affecting the population today. The general idea is that these patients either are insulin-resistant or insulin-deficient; both will lead to high blood glucose level, leading to problems in the eye, liver, heart and other organs if left untreated.

Originially, I was going to compare and contrast some of the specific medicines used to treat diabetes to find out which is the most efficient one. However, after doing some research, I found out that there were way too many drugs available on the market, and there isn't a single "best" way for treating this condition. Each medicine acts differently on the body and there's almost a "trial and error" period for each person to find out the best medicine that suits his/her body. Also, focusing on why diabetes occur would be too broad and I really wouldn't be able to come up with a conclusive answer. Yet just zooming in on one particular drug was a bit of narrow because 1. I'm not sure which drug I would pick and 2. There aren't many journal articles about one specific drug.

Finally I decided to focus on three common different kinds of type 2 diabetes drug - biguanides, thiazolidinediones, and sulfonylureas - to see how they work both separately and together sometimes to help a person maintain good health.