Welchol, a cholesterol lowering medication that has been available by prescription for almost 10 years, recently became the first cholesterol lowering drug also to be approved by the FDA to treat diabetes.

Diabetes control can be assessed by measuring a chemical in the blood called glycol-hemoglobin, known as HgbA1C. HgbA1C’s less than 6% are considered normal and non-diabetic. Poorly controlled diabetics have HgbA1C’s in the 10 to 12% range. Welchol, when used at its standard cholesterol lowering dose, reduces HgbA1C in diabetics by 0.5 to 1.0%. This may not seem like much but most diabetic medications taken regularly over several months only lower HgbA1C by 0.3 to 0.8%. Welchol has also been shown to lower HgbA1C even more when added to other diabetic medicines like insulin, metformin and sulfonylureas.

Since most diabetics also have a lipid problem, Welchol offers the opportunity to correct both the blood sugar and cholesterol levels.