Fresh hope for diabetics

AUSTRALIAN researchers have discovered the mechanism that leads to excessive platelets being produced in the blood of diabetics, which puts them at increased risk of stroke and heart attack.

The finding has led them to identify two promising treatments, fuelling hope that a monthly injection could soon be offered to the 1.7 million Australians with type 1 or 2 diabetes to safeguard the health of their blood vessels.

Platelets, the blood cells in plasma, help stop bleeding through clotting but too many can lead to blood clots that cause heart attack and stroke.

While aspirin is a blood thinner, it is less effective in those with diabetes because the platelets become resistant.