Serum lycopene levels in patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Purpose: Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress may play an important role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and its complications. Lycopene, a very potent antioxidant of carotenoids, has received considerable scientific interest in recent years for its potential role in the prevention of oxidative stress-related chronic diseases. This study was undertaken to investigate whether the serum levels of lycopene are altered between type 2 diabetic patients with and without diabetic retinopathy.

Intensive therapy for diabetes through influence on innate immune system.

Steno-2 Study has previously shown that original intensive therapy reduced the risk of cardiovascular and microvascular events to about 50% of that of conventional treatment in type 2 diabetic patients. Further, in the subsequent follow-up study, intensive therapy was found to have sustained beneficial effects on cardiovascular events and death rate in this population. Another clinical trial, China Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Study, has recently reported that group-based lifestyle interventions over six years could prevent or delay the development of diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).