In any case I thought I'd do some reasearch on it. The most annoying headline I ran across was 'Are you Obese and Fear Diabetes? Take Aspirin!', which misrepresented some of the information I've come across. Of course, inflammatory and inaccurate health headlines are not rare.
I did find a couple of stories that were a bit more clear on what's been found.
In non diabetic obsese people, an asprin-like compound called triflusal caused the pancreas to release higher levels of insulin. It didn't affect insulin sensitivity. The full study won't be out until July, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. I'm not sure if I have a lot of faith in this study leading to useful treatments. Without knowing what the subject's A1Cs were, it's hard to know if they were predisposed to diabetes. If they weren't, then who's to say that it would be preventative?
I'm also skeptical of any medication that increases insulin production - does it do it safely and sustainably, or will it lead to beta cell burnout from over work? As far as I know there hasn't been a study of insulin-stimulating drugs that confirms or denies burnout as a side affect.
The next study I found looked at another aspirin relative, Salsalate. It found that the drug reduced both fasting and glucose tolerance numbers. It was a tiny study, and looks like it lead to a bunch of other studies being funding, including a three-year trial for diabetics. They perscribed it in huge dosages - 4gms! The pills are sold in 750gm pills, so that's more than four pills a day. Salsalate has been in use for 40 years, so it's a known safe drug. In the article, they postulate that it's the anti-inflammatory action that is giving the effect. Reading the abstract for the study, it states that insulin levels did not rise, so insulin sensitivity improved. A long tested drug that increases insulin sensitivity? I hope this research goes somewhere, FAST!
Finally I found a mouse study using actual aspirin. Apparently asprin-like compounds have been noted for improving blood glucose levels since 1900. They found that high doses of aspirin block an enzyme, leading to more insulin sensitivity. And I mean dangerously high levels - the human equivalent would be more than 10 regular aspirin, which leads to a lot of nasty complications. There are some interesting quotes in this article - "We strongly recommend against anybody considering treating their diabetes with aspirin" - which I would assume means high, dangerous doses and not the baby aspirin recommendation I mentioned above.
Second is one that is painfully true:
"There is a lot of stuff that looks promising in mice that just doesn't pan out over time. It is a long way to the clinic and mice are not humans."Ain't it the truth.
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